The Future of Iowa?

This is just a heads up that in my first political column when Insider launches I will be taking on David Yepsen's last column in the Register.

I'll be challenging most of his assumptions and providing some forceful arguments with data on why he was off base about Iowans being in a funk, not over achieving and not number one!

For those of you who have asked, YES I will have lots of political and policy material in each issue. We also have some famous people writing for us.

And, yes we will try to get Dr Politics the radio show podcasts available from the Insider web site too!

Steffen

What's InsiderIowa.com?

(Picture- Schmidt innovative textbook cover)
InsiderIowa.com is a new new Internet publication. The site will launch in mid April, 2009.

This will be a very dynamic web site with in-depth coverage of interesting and important issues/features and a series of recurring columns.

Topics will include politics, policy, environmental/sustainability topics, lifestyle, business and technology, agriculture, the International/local interconnections and sports.

As traditional media shrinks, the need for new graphically rich publication with video and lots of Internet “toys” becomes more obvious every day. This is the New Media or the "Merging Media."

Few analog "newspapers" printed on, well PAPER, have successfully migrated to the Internet. We will have many discussion about why this is so later but basically its "culture." It may be the same reason why Exxon can't easily become a "green" energy company.

Traditional journalism programs often teach formulaic, sometimes boring and graphically insufficient (unsatisfying) style for the web and the "Cyber generation." My students want fast, "grabby", and engaging stuff. they also want ubiquitous portability.

Parallel example - In 1984 I and my co-authors (Mack Shelley and Barbara Bardes) published the first four color, graphically exciting American government textbook with West Publishing. It rocked the world and many textbooks who did not follow died. Our book became the best selling college American Govt textbook. We added web resources, streaming video, podcasts, a blog and it fit the lifestyle of today's students. (The latest book cover graphic is at start of this blog).

InsiderIowa.com follows the same philosophy. We hope to become a "must go to" source of information and enjoyment for Iowans and well beyond.

One example is the eight part series on Energy Security and Sustainability that we will launch in a partnership. This series will have world famous experts on one of the most critical issues facing the US and the global economy. We will also have flash video associated with this series. We are considering a partnership that will issue a Certificate of Energy Awareness for people who sign up, study the eight features, and successfully take a proficiency quiz.

I am very pleased to have been asked to be an associate editor and the chief political and foreign correspondent of this venture. This opportunity is a great honor and it adds a huge "real world" experience to my work as a professor and researcher. It will make my classes more dynamic and my students better mentored.

We invite and expect your feedback and your good ideas.

2009 - The Crisis Hits

Guys

I 'm looking out to the horizon south west from my farm where a new ethanol plant is up and running.

Now I'm looking east where a huge wind farm is now in operation - I can see the red glowing lights on each wind tower at night.

I am at the center of the 21st century.

Renewable energy.

The new economy.

Alternatives to oil, nuclear, and coal.

Yet all I hear is people bitchin'.

Whats up with that!

"Oh my God. Ethanol is using up all the corn so people around the world are starving because they can;t get cheap corn! "

"Wind turbines are very intrusive and ugly and I want them out of MY back yard. Plus they kill a lot of birds"

"We are depleating the soil and water quality by growing so much corn and turning it into fuel"

'Coal is so much cheaper and we should not subsidize wind power."

Shut up already!

We were all challenged by the federal government a few ears ago to develop alternative energy and to substitute ethanol for some of the toxic additives (for example Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) that were contaminating the ground water.

So because we are IOWA we went to work and got it done.

Ethanol plants and wind farms sprang up as fast as spring mushrooms.

Then all of a sudden corn prices shot up - NPR reported in July 2008 that:

"A rush to cash in on ethanol has slowed as soaring corn prices squeeze profit margins for producers of the alternative fuel. At a recent high of $7 per bushel, the corn used to make ethanol has tripled in price since many plants were built two years ago, and some facilities have been shut down or put on hold."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92559699

Well, shut up! Corn prices today (March 2009) are in the $3 or below per bushel range. That's right on the edge of break even.

BUT, the predictions are that it will rise to $5 or maybe above as ... well shoot! You get the point. Total instability out there! If we were a US Marine Platoon we'd be crazy frustrated! Tell us what hill you want us to take and we will do it. But don't give us constantly changing orders!

Iowa and our farmers - corn as well as wind - are like a small cork on a wind tossed sea. We bob around, we hope to survive alive, we have no control over the gyrations of world process and of the ups and downs of speculators, of OPEC and their oil policies, of the economy, of the ziggin' and zaggin' of environmentalists who can' t seem to make up their minds if they like corn and wind (both renewable and sustainable) or they don't like them for a variety of reasons.

At InsiderIowa.com we will keep an eye on this and other issues.

And, we want YOU to be center stage of the discussion.

Join our discussion now!