Monday, March 7, 2011

Ethanol Eating Away Propserity


Does Obama want $8 gasoline?

It certainly seems that is the case. During the 2008 campaign, video surfaced of Obama commenting that under his plan, energy prices would "necessarily skyrocket". Immediately upon taking office, Obama suspended oil and gas leases previously granted by the Bush administration. The handling of the Gulf Oil spill was juvenile, and just last week the first permit was granted to begin drilling again in the area.

The administration took initiative under the financial crisis to take over car companies and dictate to them to build cars that move away from high consumption of oil and gasoline. It has not been successful, as the love affair with the automobile is another piece of American exceptionalism Obama does not recognize.

No worries though. Corn based Ethanol is here and is a significant player in reducing our energy independence of foreign countries, which will culminate in lower gas prices.

Even the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, NASCAR, is on board.



Even though NASCAR is all thrilled with themselves for being a corporate leader in going green, there are issues, and they go far beyond the high banks.










At the Daytona 500, Glenn Beck had a chance to speak with NASCAR President Mike Helton and spent time with the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 88 Chevrolet Mountain Dew team, pole sitter for The Great American Race.

While visiting with Steve Latarte and the crew of the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his 88 Chevrolet team, Beck found out that the team is experiencing a 12% decrease in gas mileage in testing thus far in 2011. This does not sound good.

The government has admitted that cars built before 2007 may have issues with the gas. Maybe the only way Obama thinks he can pry us from our muscle cars is to destroy the engines with ethanol?

Furthermore, there is compelling evidence that the ethanol based gas is creating a real problem for small engines, like lawn mower and weed eaters. Although I can attest to this personally, The Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV-Channel 9, recently had a very troubling report on the impact of ethanol on these small engines.

Rather than using our own supply of oil as we turn the private sector loose on the challenge of discovering cost effective fossil fuel substitutes, we have taken to using our own food supply to fuel our thirst for oil by using corn based ethanol. Do you suspect food prices might rise in response to this development?

Indeed. While this is a welcomed development for all my Cornhusker farmer friends in Nebraska, unfortunately, rising food prices across the globe is having a rather nasty residual. One of the reasons we have seen an uprising in the middle east is due to a sharp rise in food prices in nations who already had significant economic difficulty.

Even though government is involved, could it be possible the use of ethanol has lowered oil and gas prices? Click on the chart below for a closer look to the answer you already know.

Even Van Jones, a smart left wing Communist who I rarely if ever agree with, has issues with corn based ethanol.



Certainly, taking a hard look at possible counterparts to oil is applauded, but forcing corn based ethanol down the throats of American citizens is not sound economic or moral thinking. With our economy barely standing, we cannot be so stupid as to burn up our own food supply, destroying carburetor engines and raising the costs of the food along the way, in order to quench our thirst for oil when all we have to do is Drill Baby Drill.

Or can we?

No comments: