Ethanol Tax Credits and Storage Funds

While Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) rambled on about the issue of subsidizing the ethanol industry I thought about the irony of his speech.  He decried the support of oil through hidden expenditures such as military operations to keep the water passageways flowing for the delivery of oil out of the middle east.  He talked about the volatile price of corn, ad that it wouldn't stay as high as it is now.  He argued against the logic of food prices rising due to corn being used for fuel and not food.  He lumped the food industry in with the oil and gas industry by accusing them of raising their prices needlessly only to never lower them proportionally when the corn price goes back down.  According to Sen. Grassley, roughly 70% of the benefits go to 10% of the farmers, the "mega-farmers" or corporations instead of small and medium size farms.  He then went on to relay how horrible it was that the legislation was being used to reward the largest farms instead of helping the small guys.  According to him, the law was written to provide a safety net for "those that need it".  So let me get this straight, the Senator from Iowa wants to re-direct subsidies going to large farms in the direction of small farms.  Brilliant!  One of his closing remarks mentioned that this wasn't part of the budget where Washington should be seeking to save money, that surely there are common sense areas that would be agreeable to all.  This is about the 20th time I have heard a member of Congress say something like this.  Either about oil, WIC, FEMA, ethanol, the military or a myriad of other issues.  Let's remember, it was only last December when Congress PASSED the ethanol subsidies they are now trying to revoke.  This whole mess reminds me of a scene from Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part I"; "politics, politics, politics!"  Such crap out of Washington!  So they won't cut oil subsidies, nor ethanol monies and they are heading in the direction of raising the Pentagon's budget.  Our leaders are incapable of seeing the real issue and they are certainly incapable of solving it.  Isn't it obvious that Washington should never choose the winners and losers in the economy? Yet it is hard to find a segment of our country that hasn't found some sort of favor within Washington through lobbyists and supporting campaigns.  Perhaps I should write about the portfolios commonly held by our leaders and their financial interest in continuing to prop up banks and oil companies. The answer was and always will be to break the tie between industry and government.  If they don't write exemptions within the tax codes the private sector can't garner favor through legislation or taxation.   Break the mutual interest by removing the ability to impart favors on both sides of the equation and we just might have a chance at the return of the free market system which propelled our nation to the most powerful economic engine in the world.