The Milky Way

A couple of weeks ago, Rudy Ghouliani was asked what the price of a gallon of milk was. His guess about half the going price. As much as I loath that evil little man, it was a total gotcha moment; I doubt any of the isolated, cosseted, overly-consulted politicos (all claiming to be the common man, or woman) has any idea of such basic pocket book issues. They are so beyond shopping.

Today, the price of a gallon of milk is more expensive than a gallon of oil. More and more corn is being diverted to the production of ethanol, which means less for the industrial food system that produces so much of our meat and diary products. But cows are actually grass eaters, not grain eaters. They evolved with fantastic ruminant stomachs that can digest those things we humans can’t. But when they are feed corn, those marvelous double stomachs are screwed up, necessitating all sorts of antibiotics and supplements to handle what are essentially permanently ill animals. (Don’t even get me started on bovine growth hormone, that great producer of pus.) Will efforts to wean us away from foreign oil turn more of our beef and dairy cattle back to grass? That would be a very good thing. Check out Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, a vital read for anyone who eats, and learn how we are modern Azteca, the children of the corn. If your drink the stuff, get it grass-feed and organic: yes, it's more expensive, lacking the massive subsidies that deflate the price of industrial agriculture, but it's good for you and the cow.

Producing ethanol, by the way, is very heavily carbon-intensive, but it’s being driven by Midwestern politics and the massive amounts of corn produced there.