Speaking of ethanol, Governor Kristi Noem is having to work really hard to repaint her Dear Leader Donald Trump as an advocate of South Dakota farmers’ favorite non-edible product. Her weekend propaganda piece pretends that Trump has been eagerly shoving corncobs up our gas tanks:
The EPA recently reiterated its commitment to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS.) The RFS is crucial to ensure that there is a market for our farmers to sell their corn for ethanol production. President Trump also recently announced that E15 blends will be more widely available across the country. These are but the latest bits of progress for our crucial ethanol industry.
As Chair of the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition, I’ve urged the Trump administration to drop restrictions on the ethanol industry, and we’ve already made progress on these goals. The Trump administration approved the use of E15 year-round. We also persuaded President Trump to reject a movement that would have waived portions of the RFS for small petroleum refineries. It’s been tough work, but it’s worth it to help South Dakota farmers.
…The Obama administration paid lip service to ethanol, but President Trump is actually following through on his promises to farmers. His administration is taking the necessary steps to promote biofuels and expand ethanol production. Frankly, it takes leadership from the top, and I want to thank President Trump for continuing to fight for agriculture. There is still more work to accomplish, but I’m confident that we can build on the progress that we’ve already made and get it done [Gov. Kristi Noem, press release, 2020.09.18].
Read Noem’s claims carefully: you wouldn’t think Noem would have to fight that hard to get a true supporter of ethanol to break our way. Throughout his administration, Trump has broken ethanol promises in favor of his Big Oil pals. His promise last week to unleash 15% ethanol fuel blends at the pumps feels like small comfort to farmers who’ve been given the back of Trump’s hand for the last three and a half years:
But some rural voters groups remained wary of what they argue historically has been Trump’s backing of the oil industry CL00, -1.73% at the expense of promoting alternative fuels and said the decision from the president had been a long time coming.
“The announcement made today is little more than an election-year gambit,” said Chris Gibbs, the board president of Ohio-based policy group Rural America 2020.
“You can’t sell out to Big Oil for the first 3 1/2 years of your presidency and then expect farmers to believe you with 52 days to the election,” Gibbs said. “You can’t undo 4 billion lost gallons of biofuel with last minute election games” [Rachel Koning Beals, “Trump Now Backs Higher-Ethanol Gas at Pumps in Move to Court Farm Votes Before November,” MarketWatch, 2020.09.14].
Noem can kiss Trump’s keester all she wants; attentive farmers won’t fall for her charm or Trump’s tricks. Trump’s record shows that the moment he gets what he wants—four more years of self-service in the White House—he’ll turn right back to telling farmers to kiss his keester as he switches off the ethanol spigot.
Certainly COVID Kristi knows The Fuhrer is a purely transactional president. What’s in it for his pals at Big Oil to advance the fortunes of ethanol producers? Nothing. Who would Trump listen to, Big Oil or a bunch of farmers losing their shorts? The ethanol industry is hardly a speed bump as any kind of threat to Trump and his crazed base. So far, Trump hasn’t lost one vote doing what he’s doing. What’s in it for him to toss bread crumbs to bums?
Ethanol was always a joke as an “environmentally-friendly” alternative or additive to gasoline. That is not to say that Noem is anything but a Repiglican tramp giving Trump a spinjob.
Do farmers care about farm policy – I mean care in a way that it will influence their vote? I see farmers as a pretty red block (not only in SD) who gave their support to President Trump’s election. Since that support was given, he has destroyed their markets, drained to coffers for their subsidies by cutting taxes (which did not affect farmers as they already write their incomes down to almost nothing), channelled subsidy money back to big oil away from ethanol. I believe President Trump and Governor Noem have done the political calculation that the WORST case scenario is that farmers will be angry when they vote each back into office. Even that can be washed away by kicking the culture war up a notch.
Well, if you can’t sell corn, maybe you can raise soy beans or hogs. Oh, wait… Just something think about while waiting for the checks from the Chinese “embargo payments” to start rolling in. !@#%^&*
Nuff said;
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/02/as-small-us-farms-face-crisis-trumps-trade-aid-flowed-to-corporations.html
Again;
If a single farmer votes for Trump, you have some real problems in the Ag producer industry.
https://www.feedstuffs.com/news/trumps-ag-trade-policy-leaves-some-concerned
This is the economy of Economic Oaf and the GOP.
________________________________
The Mass COVID Wealth Transfer
As millions of Americans faced unemployment or closed their businesses during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wealth of U.S. billionairesgrew by $845 billion — the latest sign that the fortunes of the few are completely untethered to the reality of the majority. But this is no aberration: New research by the Rand Corp. details how, if income distribution had merely held steady in the decades since 1975, some $50 trillion would have gone to ordinary workers rather than the nation’s oligarchic leaders — enough to pay every working-class American an additional $1,144 a month. Expect income disparities to continue growing as the U.S. struggles to manage the coronavirus and restore normalcy to the economy.
Ozy
Face it, Slim, the Independent Farmer on the Hill with His Arm around His Strong Supportive WIfe, is now a simpering socialist sycophant grovelling at the feet of a miserable orange shadow of what once had a chance once to be a human being.
“Just let ‘im do ‘is job. He’ll be great!”
I heard that in motels and gas stations and phone stores across the high plains for four years. I now retch at the memories.
Needed a place to put this… https://the-immoral-minority.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/criminal-indictments.png
drumpf leads the list of losers with the most administration indictments and it is three times moar than Tricky Dick’s previous record.
He only picks the scummiest scum.