SmallGovt

Here is a very cool article about the possibilities of ethanol…

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/technology/27proto.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Notice the article references sugar as the source for ethanol. Cheap sugar makes ethanol feasible.

Corn is not a good source of sugar. Corn has long chain carbohydrates that must be converted to simple sugars through mashing. Mashing takes a corn mush to 140 to 160 degrees where enzymes break down carbs to simple sugar. This is usually done by firing the mash with propane. Burn one fossil fuel to prevent burning another. In the end you get corn syrup that will ferment into ethanol. Costly!

Sugar doesn’t need to be mashed. Liquid sugar and yeast will spontaneously produce ethanol.

Why don’t we use sugar? The US doesn’t produce it. We have high tariffs to keep the cost of sugar high. Ever wonder why all the food labels are loaded with corn syrup? Check the label on that sugary soda. Yup, corn syrup where the sugar used to be. Unhealthy!

If we stop using corn for fuel, sugar can be used to make very cheap ethanol. The inventors in the article indicated that they could make ethanol for about a dollar a gallon with cheap Mexican sugar. Sound like a good idea.

Both Clinton and McCain are calling on congress to temporarily lift the gas tax. The Federal tax on gas is 18.4¢ per gallon. My state gas tax is 23¢ per gallon. My state has gas for about $3.51/gallon as of 4/30/2008.

15 gallons of regular will cost me $52.65. If we lift the Federal and State taxes, I will pay $46.44. this is a savings of $6.21. I would save about $25 a month. Every little bit helps.

Hell, if we are willing to have foreign investors supply the money for my $1500 stimulus package check, I think we can lift $75 or $100 worth of gas tax for the summer.

The biggest savings would be to truckers. They are using thousands of gallons of diesel (currently at $4.26/gallon). Instead of my measly $25/month, they would save thousands. This would lower the transportation cost for everything. This may slow the increasing cost of food at the grocery store. Win-Win.

Why wouldn’t we do this? Some “economists” think it’s a bad idea. They seem to think the prices would remain the same and “evil” oil companies would suck up the tax savings. Wouldn’t happen. If just one oil company kept the price low, the free market would force the others to stay low.

Maybe those economists should spend less time on politics and fire up their calculators (the math wasn’t very hard). The tax cut would be very simple.

The problem would occur when you try to reinstate the taxes. This would cause apathetic Americans to wake up and notice the high cost of hidden taxes and fees.

Here is the obligatory link to the negative Reuters story…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080430/ts_nm/usa_politics_gastax_economists_dc

If CBS gets their hands on the weather channel, will it become the 24hr Global Warming network….

NEW YORK (Reuters) – CBS Corp and GE’s NBC Universal plan to bid for the Weather Channel in the second round of bidding due in early to mid-May, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Privately held Landmark, which has put the channel up for sale along with other businesses, could see it sell for significantly less than the $5 billion it had originally sought, sources have told Reuters.

(Reporting by Jui Chakravorty; editing by John Wallace)

Newsbusters has a great article…

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/04/22/will-media-remember-gores-1994-tie-breaking-vote-mandating-ethanol

Now that fuel and food prices are heading into orbit, will the media remember that the Goracle (Al Gore) cast the vote to mandate ethanol?