John Galt replied:
<forbisgaryg@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:40647907-b54e-45a6-b4e5-31be974106ff@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mar 2, 4:33 pm, "John Galt" <whoisjohng...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> John Galt replied:
> The CEO of Sysco Foods believes that 25% of food inflation is due to the
> goverment's ethanol subsidies. A large chunk of the rest is oil, of
> course.
I certainly believe we've used energy subsidies too heavily.
The left has a stupid ideology of "sup****t the poor by
subsidizing expensive items people need." It just doesn't
work.
It makes some sense to subsidize the eventual energy winner over
oil so as to make the move more rapid but that means we know the
eventual winner and we don't.
I think we'd be better off by removing subsidies for oil and
recovering
the cost of the externalities from the consumption of oil and
providing
some more direct sup****t to the poor during the transition.
****
Well, I agree. It's too early in the alternative fuels "free-market
combat"
to line up with a technology. The government does not have the power to
force an inferior technology to "win", and if they pick the wrong horse,
we've (as usual.....) wasted billions.
You know the government. If they had been forced to invest in one or the
other, they'd have picked 8-track tapes and Betamax.
As far as I can tell, the obvious answers are biodiesel and pluggable
hybrids. Neither requires changes in infrastructure or billions in ag
subsidies. Then, let the government incent the utilties (who have to
provide
additional power for the pluggables) by providing a variable taxation rate
based on % of output coming from renewables.
OTOH, Ballard Power Systems just got done selling it's automotive
prototypes
and research to Daimler and Ford. Ballard is on record as stating that
they
are on schedule to deliver an automotive fuel-cell engine by 2010, so
announcements may be forthcoming from the two automakers, as well.
http://phx.cor****ate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=76046&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1102838&highlight=
JG
|
