One of the big problems regarding food prices is growing subsidies in bio-fuels. bio-fuels are not energy efficient, cost efficient or environmentaly friendly. The makes food prices increase and they do little to help global climate change.

For the benefit of my American friends and added shock value I’ve converted the per litre price in the source I provided below to reflect the projected cost of a US gallon of gas in Canada. Today I paid about $4.40.

Bear in mind the price includes taxes and GST. The GST goes up as the price goes up meaning our government is making a killing too… I guess they have to pay for the tax cuts they give to the oil companies with something.

The price of gas will surge to…more than $8.50 a gallon by 2012 as oil supplies continue to deplete, a Canadian economist projected Thursday.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/04/24/gas-prices-consumer.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a3:g4:r2:c0

Jeff Rubin is a pretty sharp guy.

What free market?  I see the government’s fingerprints all over this mess.  From federal subsidies to corporate farms to not grow food, or federal subsidies for biofuel.  Of course, every time the Federal Reserve announces a new creative way to debase the money supply, the price of everything goes up (except the dollar).

This is free-market in action. El conservitivos, what do you have to say now? Yeah, endorse ethanol because agribusiness can make a buck, but it’s a red herring isn’t it? Just a boondoggle. Then, don’t talk about localized farming, produce and manufacture. Hell, we’d need a Wal-Mart franchise on farming before that happened, right?

The only good thing about this crisis is it will bring to light the correlation between energy prices and food prices so that these weak-minded fools who think we can waste gas and energy with little repercussion(because Global Warming is just a myth, right?!). Grow up! Conservation is a pragmatic economical issue, the health of the planet and us humans who inhabit Earth is is just a side effect. It’s just not practical to import shit from all over the world under the wings of a finite, inefficient and unhealthy energy system.