Kill the costly ethanol mandate
The drought and sky-high corn prices are forcing federal officials to at least consider doing something that should have been done a long time ago.
Kill the federal ethanol mandate.
The law passed by Congress five years ago essentially says the industry will produce a certain amount of ethanol every year and American motorists will buy it.
The mandate curries favor with farmers and farm conglomerates that produce corn to be used to make the ethanol. It’s a way to prop up the corn market even while it does far too little to drive down oil consumption or petroleum prices.
The dry times of 2012 have killed large portions of the corn crop, spiking prices, even while the mandate calls on ethanol producers to make more of their product. Meanwhile, farmers who have herds of cows to feed are draining their wallets to pay for higher-priced corn.
You’d think Republicans who constantly whine about government mandates would be chomping at the bit to get rid of this whacky incentive.
You would be wrong. GOP members of Congress — just like President Barack Obama and too many other Democrats — continue to kowtow to the farm vote, as fiscally illogical as that is.
Congress did allow one costly tax credit for the ethanol industry expire late last year. That’s progress.
Obama should use the opportunity to waive the ethanol blending quota for this year. And Congress in 2013 should get rid of it for good.
Kent Mueller
10 months agoWow, the Star even twisted this to be anti-Republican.
Let’s see now. The ethanol subsidies, mandates and tariffs over the years represented the perfect storm. Both the farm vote and the green vote sees something they love. Clearly both parties are at fault for the meddling in the ethanol industry. But the Star chastises only the Republicans. Why? Because the Republicans, more then the Democrats, have spoken out about the government meddling in the private sector to the detriment of all. Oh, wait. These are Republicans, not Democrats. Republicans don’t speak out. They whine. That’s what the Star says.
The Star gets around to say Obama and “too many” Democrats (as opposed to implying all of the GOP)kowtow to the farm lobby. But the Star’s solution is for Obama to get out his lengthening list of executive orders and save the day with a stroke of his pen. A questionable remedy, at best, given the heretofore respect for the balance of powers.
The slapping of Republicans for the same “sins” as of the Democrats is familiar ground to the KC Star. The last time the Missouri River flooded, the Corp of Engineers had to make river management decisions that resulted in some land being flooded and some land being spared. When two dastardly Republicans, Brownback and Graves, requested the procedures the Corp of Engineers uses to determine who gets flooded be reviewed for fairness, the Star blasted them for pandering for votes. The Star ridiculed them and said they should stay out of the professionals way and to let them do their jobs without political meddling. However, the Star was stone silent just two weeks before when Claire McCaskill made the very same request. Complete silence when Democrat McCaskill wants the procedures reviewed, but it’s outrageous pandering when Republicans do the same thing.
Opinion pages are, by definition, biased. Opinion is the expression of one’s bias. However, the Star frequently goes beyond opinion to blatant partisanship. As the owner of it’s opinion page, the Star can be partisans if they want. It’s their page. However, it’s odd that the Star doesn’t express great pride in it’s support for all things Democrat and being the people’s protector from all things Republican.