burtonridr wrote:It would be nice, but unless it makes money.. They wont buy itbenzoil wrote:I can dream, can't I?burtonridr wrote:Dont hold your breath on that onebenzoil wrote:I guess what I'm after is a plan where we shift all that corn ethanol subsidy money into venues that will actually work, rather than just cutting the program to save money.
I know. I know. Big ag already has money, so it will lobby (successfully) to get more. Meanwhile, the wind and solar industries are either tiny or foreign, so they won't get a shot at the big money.
I was reading an interesting history of the Byzantine Empire (hmmm...that might be an oxymoron) in which the author maintained that the empire consistently had money problems because the ruling elite had exempted themselves from taxes. As time wore on, the middle/trading/peasant classes were exhausted financially. Even in the face of encroaching Islamic (in the south) and barbarian (north) threats, none of the Emperors even considered reforming that part of the tax code because they'd lose the support of the elite and be murdered in their sleep or get their nose cut off (a uniquely Byzantine punishment).
In other words, the envelope of "acceptable" solutions was drawn so as to exclude the solutions most likely to actually work. Sound familiar?