Well, it ought to be fair, anyway. Congressmen should pay the exact same “windfall profits” tax on their government perks and campaign contributions. A huge tax on one junket, with staff, to Europe or the watering places of the Far East or a big contribution from someone expecting favors in return, ought to cure a lot of things.
HERBIVORE’S SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION:
I live in norht central Texas. And get this Dallasites with money who want their own private hunting and recreational places are driving up land values to four and maybe 5 thousand dollars an acre. So what’s happening is that as farms go to inheritance the farm either gets split up because many can’t afford to buy out the others or they sell the family farm.
We’re not in that price range in most places around here, but we’re getting there fast. And we don’t even have a Dallas to contend with. With two exceptions around here anyway, there is no way to make a living on the land if you factor in the cost of the land.
Ethanol certainly won’t replace all of that volume, but it can help. Given a choice, would you rather be more dependent on foreign imports or less dependent?
There is much waste of electricity in the USA and much of the world. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we need street lights burning bright all night long. The only light I’ve got outside my place right now is a full moon!
The problem with ethanol is its EROEI, Energy Return On Energy Invested.Ethanol certainly won’t replace all of that volume, but it can help. Given a choice, would you rather be more dependent on foreign imports or less dependent?
There is much waste of electricity in the USA and much of the world. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we need street lights burning bright all night long. The only light I’ve got outside my place right now is a full moon!
In addition to hurting oil companies, the windfall profits tax also put many independent contractors out of business. And those small businesses never came back. And we are suffering from the absence of their services.
Amen – and there are those in Congress who, having seriously wounded the industry that we so vitally need, are proposing to administer the coup de grace.
Doug, the problem is that you need to decide which rocket scientist you’re going to believe. There are other researchers that indicate that corn ethanol does have a positive EROEI. See reference #42 at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol#cite_note-41 for a positive spin report on corn ethanol and reference 43 & 44 for a negative spin. I honestly believe the USDA is more likely to be an independent neutral source of information than the other parties. I know enough about the (name removed by moderator)ut costs of corn. My family has farmed corn for 80 years or so, though I’m currently making my “fortune” farming alfalfa hay.
that’s very true seekerz! thanks very much for sharing!
it a 2002 report and they estimated energy return at 1.34 to 1. Originally, oil was 100 to 1 but I’ve read it’s down to 20-30 to 1 today. I just can’t see ethanol filling the gap.Doug, the problem is that you need to decide which rocket scientist you’re going to believe. There are other researchers that indicate that corn ethanol does have a positive EROEI. See reference #42 at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol#cite_note-41 for a positive spin report on corn ethanol and reference 43 & 44 for a negative spin. I honestly believe the USDA is more likely to be an independent neutral source of information than the other parties. I know enough about the (name removed by moderator)ut costs of corn. My family has farmed corn for 80 years or so, though I’m currently making my “fortune” farming alfalfa hay.
I know that on my grandfather’s farm (he’s the only one left) which had oil recently found on, the crude oil was going for $92 a barrel. Of course, that’s nothing compared to what would happen in 2002. I still doubt he’d make a profit. But he’s never going to leave his home in western Kansas, and he’s never going to stop doing what he loves.Farming’s kind of a romantic notion, anyway.
right click over link, select copy short cut, then paste, Al
Cheap gasoline was over years ago. It’s now a question of cost vs the value of a particular currency. Preventing exploration eight, ten, fifteen years ago, was a huge mistake. Now, inflating the currency has turned out to be a huge mistake. We are now undergoing a dramatic economic hardship to the average person, as you say. We’ll likely go through another if we keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
And one big mistake is hiding from the issue of human overpopulation. 6.6 billion and growing, while fossil fuels decline – a recipe for the great dieoff!
The only good thing about a potential die-off is that it might force people to take overpopulation seriously and it might force us to be more conscientious about our carrying capacity.