nortexsook
Well-known member
DARK INVADER
We were told last week that Dark Invader, an unknown network of hackers, cracked computer security at major oil companies opening their datastores to infiltration and intelligence gatherings. Government computers have been a frequent target of espionage and nowhere would the information be more revealing than USDA. Dark Invader could mine information that would keep Wikileaks in business for years to come.
A hint of what is going on was disclosed this week when Secretary Vilsack was asked if he were concerned about the skyrocketing prices of corn. He replied he was not concerned and he comforted the questioner by asserting their was plenty of corn for food, feed, ethanol and other uses. This of course was consistent with other statements by the Secretary that have led the nation to conclude either that he is the dumbest Secretary of Agriculture to ever serve or he is a simply a puppet of an administration that was elected in part by strong financial support from the ethanol industry.
Dark Invader would find within the Department of Agriculture other views more conformed to rational thought. A hint of the intense debate within the Department was made public this week when a chief USDA economist was asked about the low corn stocks at a commodity conference in Florida. Reuters reported that Chief USDA economist Joe Glauber said ethanol demand is the major factor in the tightening of corn supplies and increase in price. He said there is no room for stocks to drop any lower.
USDA has now been accused of tweaking the numbers so stock reports are not as bad as reality. Future ethanol use and export estimates are minimized during this crisis. USDA in the past has not resorted to manipulating the numbers to manage the problem. Food has long been a national security issue and assuring a plentiful supply of food at affordable prices a legitimate goal of government policy. For years USDA held large corn stocks on storage at private grain elevators throughout the country much the same as the strategic petroleum underground storage today. USDA would release corn or other commodities from storage when national stocks were threatened.
Today there exists no government supplies of grain to release in an emergency. Abundant supplies created in the 1980s and 1990s caused government officials make the decision that those emergency stores of grain were unnecessary. Ethanol mandates and subsidies have proven that decision to be a big mistake. The ethanol mission of reducing our dependence on foreign oil has run amok. Today the government subsidies are so generous that U.S. ethanol producers are shipping ethanol to Europe and undercutting European suppliers.
The debate within the Department of Agriculture is how do they protect the food supply when stocks are dangerously low and a drought in the corn belt could leave the country without grain. Dark Invader will find inside USDA the debate hinging on those dealing in the real world of a looming crisis and those political forces from an unreal world that only seeks to create a false reality backed by spin and smoke and mirrors. Outside the Department of Agriculture is the world of commerce forced to deal with the ramifications of bad public policy.
We were told last week that Dark Invader, an unknown network of hackers, cracked computer security at major oil companies opening their datastores to infiltration and intelligence gatherings. Government computers have been a frequent target of espionage and nowhere would the information be more revealing than USDA. Dark Invader could mine information that would keep Wikileaks in business for years to come.
A hint of what is going on was disclosed this week when Secretary Vilsack was asked if he were concerned about the skyrocketing prices of corn. He replied he was not concerned and he comforted the questioner by asserting their was plenty of corn for food, feed, ethanol and other uses. This of course was consistent with other statements by the Secretary that have led the nation to conclude either that he is the dumbest Secretary of Agriculture to ever serve or he is a simply a puppet of an administration that was elected in part by strong financial support from the ethanol industry.
Dark Invader would find within the Department of Agriculture other views more conformed to rational thought. A hint of the intense debate within the Department was made public this week when a chief USDA economist was asked about the low corn stocks at a commodity conference in Florida. Reuters reported that Chief USDA economist Joe Glauber said ethanol demand is the major factor in the tightening of corn supplies and increase in price. He said there is no room for stocks to drop any lower.
USDA has now been accused of tweaking the numbers so stock reports are not as bad as reality. Future ethanol use and export estimates are minimized during this crisis. USDA in the past has not resorted to manipulating the numbers to manage the problem. Food has long been a national security issue and assuring a plentiful supply of food at affordable prices a legitimate goal of government policy. For years USDA held large corn stocks on storage at private grain elevators throughout the country much the same as the strategic petroleum underground storage today. USDA would release corn or other commodities from storage when national stocks were threatened.
Today there exists no government supplies of grain to release in an emergency. Abundant supplies created in the 1980s and 1990s caused government officials make the decision that those emergency stores of grain were unnecessary. Ethanol mandates and subsidies have proven that decision to be a big mistake. The ethanol mission of reducing our dependence on foreign oil has run amok. Today the government subsidies are so generous that U.S. ethanol producers are shipping ethanol to Europe and undercutting European suppliers.
The debate within the Department of Agriculture is how do they protect the food supply when stocks are dangerously low and a drought in the corn belt could leave the country without grain. Dark Invader will find inside USDA the debate hinging on those dealing in the real world of a looming crisis and those political forces from an unreal world that only seeks to create a false reality backed by spin and smoke and mirrors. Outside the Department of Agriculture is the world of commerce forced to deal with the ramifications of bad public policy.
