An interesting possible side effect is this. Most people seem unaware of how NAFTA allowed Mexico to be opened to corn and other agricultural products from the USA. This had a devastating effect upon small farmers in Mexico who were unable to compete. This has been a major contributor to the upswing in Mexican immigration (much of it in violation of US law) during the last decade. Mexico is still has a far larger rural population (as a percent of the total population) than does the US so the impact on Mexico was all out of proportion to any gain by US agribusiness.
For several centuries these Mexican farmers got along just fine, much like my brothers-in-law in the Philippines but once NAFTA came along overnight their economic existence was destroyed. Imagine your economic existence destroyed overnight, then ask yourself what would you do? Keep in mind that the only "education", the only real "knowledge" you have is how to run a small farm. Perhaps the rise in prices of corn is not a bad thing. The further irony is that "educucation" has in the case of my Filipino family doomed the educated members to a life of lesser income than those of the older brothers who were less educated and remained as businesspersons and farmers. The older members of the famly invested heavily in the education of the younger members. The nurses, pharmacists, lab techs and engineers that resulted are without exception making far less money and have less satifying lives in many ways than do the older ones ... the jobs did not follow the education; instead serious frustration followed that education, which in some ways made the younger members less fit for the occupations and busineses that have served the older members of the family quite well. BobLQ On 1/5/07, Lan Barnes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I know it's been talked to death and the subject of some anti-biofuels FUD, but this story in the NYT on the anticipated impact on scaled-up ethanol production on corn prices is instructive. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/business/05ethanol.html?_r=1&oref=slogin -- Lan Barnes SCM Analyst Linux Guy Tcl/Tk Enthusiast Biodiesel Brewer -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
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