The Energy Myth That Won’t Die

March 25, 2011 04:41


The real greed lies, mutually, in private “investors” chasing public funds for private profit with the complicity of politicians. Politicians promote energy alternatives and then harvest campaign cash from the recipients of taxpayer handouts.

By Jerry Shenk at American Thinker

EXCERPTS:

Ethanol remains a case study in poor choices and the negative effects of government intervention in markets. The problems with alcohol-based “renewable” fuels are well-documented. Both corn-based and cellulosic ethanol have significant drawbacks, not the least of which is that artificial demand for corn to produce ethanol is driving up global food prices and contributing to civil unrest in parts of the world.

Not only is the EPA prepared to authorize an increase in the domestic ethanol mandate from 10 percent to 15 percent, there is pressure to authorize importation of foreign-sourced ethanol.

The United States is the world’s largest producer of ethanol from corn; Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugar cane ethanol. The world prices for both corn and sugar are currently at or near historically high levels, demonstrating the effects of artificial ethanol demand complicated by the vagaries of supply.

It is only government-enforced taxpayer investment in these alternatives that attracts private money interests. The real greed lies, mutually, in private “investors” chasing public funds for private profit with the complicity of politicians. Politicians promote energy alternatives and then harvest campaign cash from the recipients of taxpayer handouts. It’s an insiders’ game, a closed loop: politicians and rent-seekers are playing taxpayers and consumers for chumps on marginally viable and impractical alternative energy sources.

FULL ARTICLE



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