Alternative Energy

[QuickTrade]

Ethanol Is Killing Us! I am fed up with people who are supporting the ethanol views. I've been saying this for years now and we're finally seeing the effects of it.

#1. We don't have enough ethanol to produce energy.
#2. Even if we used every corn kernel it would only make up for 12% of our cars today.
#3. We're the number one corn producer in the world, what do you think other countries will do to their exports to us? Raise the prices!
#4. The more corn we use, the higher EVERY FOOD PRICE will get! Have you noticed how much milk is now? It went up where I am. More to come with other foods too.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTF6XuCap4Gg&refer=home


Fuel Costs

Today's report showed energy prices jumped 5.4 percent after rising 2.4 percent in April. Gasoline prices jumped 11 percent.

Regular gasoline at the pump rose to a record $3.23 a gallon on May 23, compared with an average $2.83 in April, according to the American Automobile Association.

Food prices, which account for about a fifth of the CPI, rose 0.3 percent after a 0.4 percent increase in April.

Housing costs, which include some energy costs and account for one-third of the total consumer price index, rose 0.2 percent. Owner's equivalent rent, which makes up 30 percent of the core CPI, increased 0.1 percent after rising 0.2 percent. Medical-care costs rose 0.3 percent after rising 0.4 percent. Clothing prices dropped 0.3 percent for a second month.

Almost 60 percent of the CPI covers prices that consumers pay for services ranging from airline fares to movie tickets and laundry charges.

Auto prices fell 0.2 percent.

Ethanol

Increased use of ethanol to fuel cars is raising food costs as demand for corn rises, according to economists such as Richard Yamarone of Argus Research in New York.

Dallas-based Dean Foods Co., the biggest U.S. milk processor, said profit this year will be less than it previously forecast because of soaring raw-milk costs.

Core inflation has been moderating in recent months. The Fed's preferred gauge, known as the core personal consumption expenditures price index, rose 2 percent in April from a year earlier, government figures showed on June 1. That's the smallest year-over-year gain in 13 months.

The Fed, in its latest assessment of regional economic conditions released June 13, said ``reports generally did not indicate an increase in overall prices pressures.'

Policy makers, including Bernanke, have said they would prefer the rate to be in a 1 percent to 2 percent range. The gauge has been at or above 2 percent since April 2004.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Willis in Washington [e-mail]