President Bush's State of the Union message indicated a target of 35 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2017.  The morning after he made his speech, I did a quick calculation and at current production levels that would -- assuming it were met entirely by ethanol -- require 108 percent of the U.S. corn crop -- so no corn for you or me, just corn for ethanol.  No corn for hogs; no for corn for cattle; no corn for poultry, et cetera.

The International Food Policy Research Institute has predicted that if current ethanol trends continue we can expect to see increases in the price, not just of corn, but wheat, soybeans, and even unlikely crops such as manioc which is a staple of the poorest of the poor in Latin America and Africa. 

People will not die in dramatic ways -- they'll become less well-nourished.  Most of them will live in rural subsistence or in urban slums.  They'll become sicker and they will die -- but quietly.