Why Following Willie Nelson is Usually a Terrible Idea

Fact: Willie Nelson uses biofuels in his cars and sells BioWillie feuls.

Fact: I have never listened to a single Willie Nelson song.

Fact: Inflation on dairy products and wheat has been spiking in the last two years.

Fact: Other people have listened to Willie Nelson songs and have purchased his albums.

Thesis: Willie Nelson is to blame for inflation from 2006-2008.


My family is full of francophiles meaning that I might be one of the few non-liberal East Coasters who have heard positive stories about the French. One of the Stories from My Father about France (see, I could be like Obama) was about how after the French Revolution, the French government controlled the price of bread so that bread prices wouldn't spike again in the 1780s, leading to broad civil unrest as, well, you know, people wanted to eat. I thought French bread price controls were still in play, but it seems like they were eliminated in 1978. Still, I think it's a heart-warming story of a government that decided that all people have the right to, you know, eat.

Which is why the recent trend of spiralling prices and rationing is leaving me a little angry at Willie Nelson. Today, it was revealed that the Cost Company has been rationing the amount of rice in bulk that people can buy, spurred by the rice shortages that are overtaking much of Southeast Asia (where there have been food riots because the price of rice is increasing dramatically). This was preceded by the fun news sometimes last month that food prices had gone up 8 percent in the last two years, including, 15 percent for dairy, 10 percent for vegetables. Check out this chart...


All these food prices are being driven up by...biofeul. It's insane. Farmers are switching their crops to corn or soybeans to turn into biofeul. The effect is increased food prices, and according to an article in Science, increased greenhouses gases. Turns out that the process of clearing the land for corn production, plus the harvesting of excess corn creates more greenhouse gases than are saved by using biofeuls over gasoline. Not to mention that we are creating incentives for farmers in Brazil to cut down the rainforest to grow fuel. Brilliant! Congratulations eco-people, you are hastening the global environmental crisis instead of halting it. We need to have fewer Adam Gardners testifying in Congress and more environmental analysts, people who might actually think about the unintended consequences of their actions.

I usually don't get too bugged by one specific policy, but subsidizing farmers to grow corn to increase food prices leading to increase environmental degredation is a policy I give the Official LOWAG Stamp of Disapproval.