Nogger's Blog

13/12/13 -- One of the first things to grab my attention this morning is the news than a group of US senators have got together to introduce a bill to eliminate the US ethanol mandate completely. See here.

Whether it will actually get passed is another matter entirely of course, but it does highlight the fickle times (and markets) within which we operate. One stroke of the pen in Washington or Brussels and the rule book goes out of the window and we all start again from scratch....

"I remember the good old days when wheat was 200 pounds a tonne, don't laugh, it all used to go up the road to this bloody great big factory where they turned it into some shit or other and then they were back on the blower the next day wanting to buy more. Seriously. They passed a law, a fucking law, ordering that everyone had to buy this shit whether they wanted it or not! They didn't even know they were buying it half the time! Imagine that. That was the year when me and yer Nan bought our first Caribbean island. It worked well for a few years, and it would have carried on working if it wasn't for those pesky senators...."

It is particularly interesting to then hear about this: Biofuel suspected in probe into diesel breakdowns happening here in the UK.

Surely this whole biofuel thing can't be simply one enormous Ponzi scheme where the big boys help themselves get richer whilst pretending to be saving the planet? A scheme which the politicians fell for hook, line and sinker?

What happens of the lawmakers realise that biofuels aren't all they're cracked up to be and pull the plug on the whole little lot? A scary thought eh?

But that's not going to happen is it? The big boys are too, well, BIG. And too well connected, and with pockets that go all the way down to the ground.