Congress for Sale

If you watched the 2007 Le Mans auto race you may have noticed that the first five place finishers were diesel-powered 1.5 liter engines that averaged over 200 MPH while getting 117 miles per gallon. This event could not have been more public, but, for the benefit of Archer-Daniels-Midland, and the powerful farm lobby, Congress chose to ignore viable solutions and back a boondoggle initiative to promote and subsidize alcohol-based fuels made from corn. Let us look at the facts. Growing corn is an expensive process requiring tons of environmentally unfriendly chemical fertilizers that leach into the water table unless expensive treatment methods are used to neutralize the soil every other year. Further, the process of converting corn to alcohol requires more energy than the corn produces. In addition, the corn diverted to fuel production drives up the price of animal feed resulting in the sharp increases we have already seen in the prices of milk and meat.
How has Congress decided to pay for all this? Congress voted to raise the taxes on oil companies – 61 billion dollars so far.

Never in the history of commerce has a business failed to pass along increased costs to consumers. Look at the headlines: “Costly oil exploration drives up prices” “Motorists feel the heat of ever higher refinery maintenance costs” “The 40,000% markup you pay for prescriptions cover the cost of research and development” The list goes on.

Can you say, “Stupid?” I knew you could.

Here is a fact for you; hemp refining produces four times the alcohol of corn without the high costs (no pun intended). It requires no costly chemical inducement to grow in poor soil unsuitable for other crops and adds nothing to the price of food.
Between the technologies already demonstrated successfully at Le Mans and cost-effective alternative fuels why would Congress choose the most expensive and least beneficial method? Because, Democrats and Republican alike, they are paid to make those choices. Who bought your Congressman’s vote?