RE: High Petrol/Gas Prices Coming - Don't Blame Big Oil
I should be surprised more people don't know this, but am not. They have to do something with all that corn they are not refining into super sugar syrup to fatten up the citizens, so why not put it in the gas (I probably have the reasons backwards).
When I was a young man and gas stations actually had full service pumps and mechanic garages, I worked at several of them. Small mom and pop places that had bought into the franchises. Back then, the owners were lucky to make more than .01/.02 per gallon. They made most of their money on the extras like oil, candy, cigarettes etc, and the mechanical jobs.
The EPA is a weird animal. It is kind of a government agency, but not in the sense that they have oversight. Kind of like the Federal Reserve. The ties between many who have headed up the EPA and the lobby groups is about what you would expect.
For those who really want to go down this rabbit hole, study the economics of the U.S. during the 70's. Opec trying to get a fair shake on their oil, and the Federal Reserve combating this at the citizens expense by purposely creating double digit inflation so they got paid relatively the same or less for their oil. By the time Carter appointed Volcker so many people were in over their heads borrowing, which handed much of the farming industry to the likes of Monsanto once Volcker began destroying the money supply (deflation).
Yes, monetary policy is a huge rabbit hole. It is like trying to juggle jello - shit is falling all over the floor while the jugglers are telling you how smart and talented they are. The problem with ethanol is that it costs more to make it than gasoline and it doesn't burn as efficiently. Iowa and Federal government have been subsidizing it for years through various programs, but it isn't getting any more profitable. We keep hoping for some breakthrough in the concept, but it just hasn't happened and we've been trying for 1/2 a century. The EPA has too much power at the Federal level and state's have to meet the Federal minimums. Of course, then they can tack on more regulation if they choose. California does this and with the most commuters using vehicles per capita than anywhere else in the world, one would think they would be experts on the matter. Unfortunately, they are all about rainbows, unicorns, and keeping the Grand Ol' Party in power than they are about real solutions. Lastly, you bring up yet another reason that Carter was probably the worst President ever (if we blame him for all the bad shit in late 70's).