$3 a gallon ethanol and hamberger

Today an MSN headline reads, "Ethanol may cause more smog, more deaths." Once again Bush is wrong. Ethanol is not a solution to any problem except the importation of foreign oil. Ethanol has already caused an increase in the cost of food because corn is used for both human and animal food. It is also just another hydrocarbon based fuel with the same pollution problems of oil. I realize that all the farm states are delighted with the increase in the price of corn, and I will even concede that ethanol has some use as a fuel, but it is far from a solution to US energy needs. The technology exists to make vehicles more fuel efficient. US auto makers seem to think that raising CAFE standard will bring about their demise. Their demise is due to their lack of innovation and high benefits costs. (Here a national health insurance program would go a long way to helping the US compete globally.) But US automakers control the cars we buy, if they made more fuel efficient vehicles, people would buy them. I can't imagine anyone says when they buy a vehicle that they want one that gets really bad gas mileage. I tend not to be a radical environmentalist in my approach to the problem of global warming, although my lifestyle is radical. I've installed a 7.8 kw PV solar system, I recycle everything, I drive a Corolla while waiting for a plug in Prius to be sold. But small steps for most people would go a long way to solving the problem. But alas more cars with low fuel efficiency that use ethanol is not a solution. Tax incentives seem like the best way to bring about change. I probably would not have installed the PV solar system, if it had not been for the Federal and NYS tax incentives which amounted to about $5,900. But where is the shortfall in revenue to come from? How about we go after the millions of tax cheats and end more of the dopey tax loopholes in the IRS code. And we could stop going to war for oil, and that's the only reason we went to war in Iraq in my opinion. And I'm a vegetarian.