Sunday, December 2, 2012

Servant; or Master?



In the United States of America the government is supposed to be the servant of the people; we, as the voters are supposed to be in charge. Congress is supposed to listen to us, and act accordingly. The President is supposed to hear our voices and respond.

Isn't that what they tell us every 2, 4 or 6 years? Hell; some of them may even believe it.

But then the election is over and the mask slips. Then we find out out servant is a tyrant.

Take for instance the EPA and the new ethanol requirement. There has been a lot of resistance to the increase of ethanol in gasoline, but all of the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Big, jug-eared deaf ears.

The EPA doesn't care that less than one-half of one percent of the vehicles on the road right this minute can use this fuel without damage. Knowing this administration, they probably consider that a feature; not a bug.

What type of damage are we looking at? Well, ethanol is alcohol, which absorbs moisture. so anything it comes into contact with that contains moisture will start to be dried out; things like fuel line hoses; rubber seals on gas tanks and gaskets on intake systems. Ethanol is also less cohesive than oil based gasoline; meaning it will flow past the rings in engine cylinders, washing the lubrication off of the cylinder walls, allowing the rings to mark or scar them, which will hasten engine wear.

This cylinder wall bypass will also allow ethanol to contaminate the engine oil; thinning it so that it provides less protection, increasing wear on the bearing surfaces of the internal moving parts.

Bottom line: ethanol will cost the owners of 228 million vehicles in the country money. money for either a major engine repair or a new car or truck. What are the chances you vehicle is one of the 228 million affected? Odds are pretty dang good.

I don't know about you, but in the New Normal Economy (also known as Obama's Depression) I ain't got that kinda cash.

And that is just cars. This fuel will also damage/ruin your lawnmower; chainsaw; weedeater; rototiller and snow-blower, as well as every other piece of gasoline powered equipment you put it in.

 Plus- and here is a real kicker- the addition of ethanol LOWERS fuel economy. There is less 'bang' in each quart of ethanol that there is in a quart of gasoline, so the more ethanol you burn the more fuel you will use. Since the addition of ethanol will not lower the price of a gallon of gas, the cost of your commute has just gone up.

And ANOTHER kicker; burning food in your gas tank will raise the demand for corn, which will also raise the price/cost of the corn. Which means the addition of ethanol will most likely mean an increase in the cost of a gallon of gas.

Unless the Federal government continues to subsidize the ethanol industry with a larger subsidy, paid for out of our taxes. Unless of course they just borrow the money (hey; when you are $16,000,000,000.00 in debt already, whats another billion or two?) instead, meaning we will pay for the subsidy and the cost of the interest to borrow the money to pay the subsidy, in addition to paying for the repairs to our gas powered equipment caused by the ethanol we are paying to subsidize.

But that subsidy won't apply to other uses of corn; like as animal feed or creating sugar. An increase in the cost of corn will lead to an increase in the cost of any foodstuff that relies on corn. Not only Fritos, Doritos and tacos, but anything that contains High Fructose as an ingredient, or eats corn, like cattle/beef, hogs/pork and chickens.

Not to mention what this will do to the cost of moonshine and bourbon.

This is a government that is the servant of the people?

How do I fire this servant?

Oh yeah; never mind; apparently we can't fire this servant until we can find a suitable replacement.

And we have to wait four three two more years to even start the search.

No comments: