Ethanol From Corn Government Mandates

The Federal Government wants to use hundreds of billions of dollars in so-called stimulus spending to counteract the housing and financial problems caused by governments and to bolster many weak companies, some over-paid union workers and their over-paid union bosses, and those state governments which were most irresponsible in their spending. Do you suppose that there will be an ounce of wisdom in how the tax money of the responsible and competent will be used? Or, will the decisions be made simply to support the political careers of our elected politicians?

The answer is clear and can be observed from many past experiences and the direction many politicians have already signaled that they are taking. Among the signs, we should note that it was just a short while ago when the politicians were convinced, or tried to convince us, that ethanol refined from corn was the answer to energy independence and to air pollution. Science has clearly since, and had already in part at the time, shown this claim to be false. All the ethanol mandates and subsidies have achieved is to increase our gasoline costs, increase our food bills, increase the tax bill and the deficit, cause farmland prices to go up, made bundles of money for ADM and some farmers, hurt ranchers and other meat producers, and left many poor people in the world more hungry. This being the clear case, should we not expect our politicians to en masse rush to pass new legislation to remove the gasoline mandates and to remove the offending subsidies, both of which are clearly contrary to the general welfare?

Of course, we should expect this, if we believed that the politicians actually cared for the general welfare, which they cite as the reason for almost every piece of legislation. We understand that the welfare of each and every one of us individuals is not high on their list of values, however. So it is no surprise that the absurd ethanol mandates and subsidies are still on the books and are still hurting all of us who are not corn farmers, owners of ADM, or politicians. Knowing this, why on earth do we stand by and not only not squawk about this ethanol scam, but we are allowing the Federal Government to create many new massive frauds in the name of a recession stimulus package.

The Federal Government under both Hoover and FDR provided many stimulus packages, which did not only not prevent the Great Depression, but actually greatly prolonged it. They created massive uncertainty for investors by trying to pick the winners and the losers with constantly changing rules, just as Bush and Obama have done or are about to do. Hoover and FDR spent massive amounts of tax money and gave it to the unproductive, the incompetent, and the lazy, while taking it from the productive, the competent, and the hard-working. This is a sure way to destroy an economy and market system which a recession has momentarily staggered. Bush and Obama wish to do the same thing Hoover and FDR did. This is a repeat of history, in which a pragmatic Republican starts a mess and a socialist Democrat comes to the "rescue", only to make the mess much worse, because socialism is a massive loser to capitalism, even when it is crippled by unprincipaled pragmatism.