Drilling deeper into oil prices

The recent attack on corn ethanol is based on a faulty assumption that, of all the factors affecting food prices, the only one that can be changed by the government is the impact on corn demand and prices by ethanol producers, according the National Corn Growers Association Corn Commentary blog.

Here's what NCGA has to say:

We’ve long been of the opinion, shared by many, that higher energy prices have much more of an impact on retail food prices than grains such as corn. And a Wall Street Journal op-ed today argues that there is much Congress can do in this regard, such as allow more domestic drilling. In fact, its headline is “Blame Congress for High Oil Prices.”

But the real news today actually comes from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has announced “multiple energy market initiatives.”

Among those initiatives? A nationwide crude oil investigation into practices surrounding the purchase, transportation, storage and trading of crude oil and related derivative contracts. In other words, price fixing.

Randy Klien of the Nebraska Corn Board pointed out that Associated Press has already picked up on this.