Good News....? Not!

Another record month for U.S. ethanol exports

Top destinations in July were Canada, Brazil, and European Union. Through the first seven months of 2011, the United States has exported 588.5 million gallons of ethanol, or roughly 7.5% of total output during that same period. Year-to-date exports in 2011 are already more than the combined total of 2009 and 2010 exports. The U.S. ethanol industry remains on pace to export 800-900 million gallons of ethanol for the entire 2011 calendar year.

Exports of denatured ethanol in July topped 100 million gallons for the first time ever, coming in at 104.6 million gallons. For context, this is equivalent to the annual output of a typical large ethanol facility. Canada was the top export destination in July, receiving 33.8 million gallons of denatured product. Brazil imported 16.1 million gallons, while the United Kingdom (14.0 mg), United Arab Emirates (13.6 mg), and Netherlands (12.3 mg) rounded out the top five. Together, the top five destinations accounted for 86% of July denatured ethanol exports.

This U.S. government's instance on interfering with market forces is completely screwing the typical U.S. consumer (unless you don't eat food or use energy).

1) U.S. Government mandates the use of ethanol, which diverts corn supplies away from food/feed and into ethanol production.  Unfortunately, even this fake market created by the mandate is not enough to make ethanol production profitable, so;

2) the U.S. government must subsidize the manufacturing of ethanol.  Because it is corn based it yield 1.5 units of energy for every 1 unit of energy input into producing it (when taking into account the fuel burned by the grower, the energy used to transport and the fact that ethanol is less efficiently burning than petroleum based fuel.  So;

3) the price of U.S. corn doubles, then doubles again because it is short supply.  "Why is it in short supply," you ask?  We grow a lot of corn.  True, but the price of sugar is also increasing.  "What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?", you ask.  Well, as it turns out, after all the subsidies, U.S. based ethanol is cheaper (falsely, so) than sugar cane based ethanol (which, btw, yields 7-8 units of energy for every 1 unit of energy it takes to produce it).  So, we import Brazilian ethanol, while Brazil imports U.S. ethanol.  Confused?  You should be.  

4) So producers (specifically poultry producers) are losing money hand over fist.  The government's response?  Spend $40 million tax payers money to "subsidize" the poultry industry.  BTW - $40 million is less than a half day of the industry's production, so all they are doing is throwing good money after bad.

5) So, you are getting ready to ask, "Why can't farmers just grow more corn?"  Maybe because growers have land in conservation and are being paid to produce NOTHING (or maybe something besides corn). 

Net effect?  

Everyone pays more for the ethanol, the food and the taxes to support this lunacy.

Anyone else feel like screaming?

And congress wonders why they have single digit approval ratings.
The lesson?  Government ought not try to pick winners and losers through tax policy, subsidies, set-aside, et. al....

This is what happens when adults run things....

Here are some things you won't see in the MSM:
(Note:  I could have put links on each of these, but it's too time consuming and most of these links also contain links to the other references.)

Ashland School District - saved $378,000 on health insurance;

Kimberly School District - saved $821,000 by dropping WEA Trust Insurance;

Edgerton School District - dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save at least $500,000;

Baraboo School District - dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save at least $660,000;

Dodgeland School District - dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save $260,000;

Elmbrook School District - changing health care provider, savings estimated at $878,000;

Mequon-Thiensville School District - saving $49,000 on dental insurance coverage;

Marshfield School District - saving $850,00 by dropping WEA Trust;

City of Sheboygan - Mayor Bob Ryan says collective bargaining reforms will provide  enough savings to make up for the reduction in state aid;

Wauwatosa School District - tax levy decreasing, no programs will be cut, class sizes won't increase, thanks to the reforms in collective bargaining;

Manitowoc - Laid-off city workers may get their jobs back due to the wage/benefit reforms contained in Walker's budget. Changes to overtime rules saving the county $100,000;

Pittsville - will see a 9% decrease in the school portion of their property tax levy. "This is the first year we have not needed to short-term borrow," stated Board President Strenn;

Appleton School District - will save $3.1 million just in health insurance costs due to being able to bid out the coverage and being able to drop WEA Trust;

Racine County - inmates can now be used to perform tasks such as landscaping, painting and shoveling sidewalks. Executive Ladwig states, "...this is a win/win for the inmates and the county. It frees up county employees for other tasks, gives the inmates a sense of value, and helps the county maintain property that has been neglected."

Kaukauna School District - hiring additional teachers, reducing class sizes, enacting a merit pay system, and due to Walker's Budget Bill, Kaukauna's operating budget has moved from a negative $400,000 to a positive $1,500,000. Much of this savings was due to being able to drop WEA Trust.

Hartland School District - switched from WEA Trust and saved $690,000;

Hudson School District - saved $832,000 on health insurance due to ability to bid the insurance.

KSTP did a study of the savings in Sheila Harsdorf's 10th Senate District. They found that Ellsworth, Prescott, Menomonie, Somerset and Hudson school districts are all reporting large savings due to the changes signed into law by Walker.

Keep in mind, WEA TRUST is a union insurance company, a company that has obviously been ripping off the school districts for years, thanks to collective bargaining that prohibited school districts from seeking insurance coverage from any company other than WEA Trust. How much tax money would we have saved if school districts had been "allowed by the unions" to bid out their insurance over the years? I'd say probably many, many, many millions statewide. It's the union money train running off the tracks, finally, and Shelly and her union don't like it.

WANT MORE GOOD NEWS??

Walker just signed an Unemployment Insurance extension adding 13 weeks of UC benefits.

Passed a state budget on time, without tax increases, that leaves WI in the black for the first time in over 10 years.

Turned a $3 billion deficit into a $300 million surplus.

Cut bonding by nearly 20%.

Cut more than 1,000 government jobs, including 735 long-term vacancies.

In the first 6 months of 2011 WI showed job growth more than twice the national rate.

Protected our votes by requiring a picture I.D. at the polls.

Became the 49th state to recognize our 2nd Amendment right to carry concealed weapons.

Paid off WI's $60 million debt to MN under the former tax reciprocity agreement.

Paid back over $200 million to the Injured Patients and Families Fund. This is money that Gov. Doyle unconstitutionally raided from the Patients' Compensation Fund.

Walker expanded the prohibition against tax money being used to subsidize abortion.

A tale of two buses....

Top: Former Governor Sarah Palin's Bus,  Bottom: President Barack Hussein Obama's Bus
Need I say more....?

And we are paying for it...

Pentagon report: China closer to matching modern militaries

Bill Gertz - The Washington Times 8/24/2011

“Militarily, China’s sustained modernization program is paying visible dividends,” the report said. “During 2010, China made strides toward fielding an operational anti-ship ballistic missile, continued work on its aircraft carrier program, and finalized the prototype of its first stealth aircraft.”

More disturbing:

China also is continuing aggressive cyberintelligence gathering and targeted numerous computer systems around the world, the report said, noting the intrusions “appear to have originated within the PRC.”

“These intrusions were focused on exfiltrating information,” the report said, noting that the same skills can be used for “computer network attacks” in warfare.

What is Obama's REAL motivation...?

Ignorance, Stupidity or Connivance?

Townhall.com

8/10/2011
Walter E. Williams 


I believe Mr. Williams sums it up quite nicely:

I don't believe that Obama is dumb enough to believe that a tax on corporate jets would be a revenue generator. His agenda is to inspire envy and resentment against wealthy Americans as a tool in pursuit of his higher-tax agenda.

The question that is still nagging me, is why does he want to do this?  


What is Obama's REAL motivation?  


What part does "inspiring envy and resentment against wealthy Americans" play in BHO's bigger picture?  


To me the possible answers to those questions are more disturbing than nearly every other question about Barack Hussien Obama.

We need an alien invasion to save the economy...

The man, Paul Krugman, who said this is a Pulitzer Prize winning Nobel Laureate and all around kook on NY Times Opinion page....  



Yes!  He really did say that.  Really.  You heard it right.  Alien invasion could save the economy.  Dang, I wish I'd thought of that!

I'm sensing a pattern...

A rose by any other name....

You can call Food Stamps SNAP, but it's still welfare....


Using this logic, the government ought to give us all food stamps to really get the economy rolling!  Idiocracy...

More Greenie Solar Power Boondoggles...

From the Whitehouse.gov Stimulus Progress Report:

Evergreen Solar Was Hoping to Hire 90 to 100 People for Its Manufacturing Plant. "Evergreen Solar, the Marlborough-based maker of solar panels, also is hoping to hire 90 to 100 people at a manufacturing plant in Devens, said Gary Pollard, vice president of human resources. The plant, which opened last summer, is expected to employ more than 800 when it reaches full capacity." [Boston Globe, 3/6/09]


Breaking News:

Evergreen Solar files for bankruptcy, plans asset sale

By Greg Turner And Jerry Kronenberg
Monday, August 15, 2011 

I mean, really, who saw this coming, right?

Greg Bialecki, [Deval] Patrick’s economic development czar, defended the administration’s support for the once-promising Evergreen. The state is still trying to recoup about $4 million [of $58 million] in cash from the Marlboro-based company.

“Not every company is going to be successful ... but we still believe the approach of providing business incentives to create and maintain manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts is an important strategy,” he said.

Evergreen — hurt by lower-cost competition in China and plummeting prices for solar panels — also said it will cut more jobs — 65 layoffs in the United States and Europe, mostly through the shutdown of its Midland, Mich., manufacturing facility. That would leave Evergreen with about 68 workers according to a head count listed in the bankruptcy filing.

To cut costs, Evergreen shifted some of its production to Wuhan, China, last year. That joint venture will remain operating subject to financing talks with Chinese investors. [emphasis mine]

Again, I'll say, "Who could have thought way back last year that China could produce solar panels cheaper...?  Who? 

Forefather Wisdom....

"History by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views." --Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781

'nough said..

The Dems are scared...

...and rightly so.


The Democrats will always tell you who they fear by who they attack. This weekend they coined the phrase "Tea Party downgrade", as if the $10 trillion they are going to add to the deficit doesn't count, the fact that they did not pass a budget in either the house or the senate the entire time they controlled it didn't matter and conveniently over looking the fact that 95 House and 45 Senate Democrats voted FOR the bill raising the debt ceiling.... 


The inside-the-beltway Dems are sacred....

The New Face of the U.S. vs the Old Guard....

Maro Rubio is one the rare politicians who I actually enjoy listening to....  My prediction is that if he can remain scandal-less, he will one day be president.

Ignorance on Display....

Messing With Medicare

By PAUL KRUGMAN

NY Times

Published: July 24, 2011

Where do I start with this mess....?  How about this:

For Medicare, with all its flaws, works better than private insurance. It has less bureaucracy and, hence, lower administrative costs than private insurers. It has been more successful in controlling costs. 

What do you think?  Ignorance?  Wilful-ignorance?  

Also, did I mention that Republicans are doing all they can to undermine health care reform — they even tried to undermine it as part of the debt negotiations — and may eventually succeed? If they do, many of those losing Medicare coverage would find themselves unable to replace it.

I guess Krugman missed the part of Obamacare that strips $500,000,000 from Medicare and thrusts Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board...?

The bottom line?  Paul Krugman proving once again that he lives in some sort of parallel universe: "For Medicare, with all its flaws, works better than private insurance. It has less bureaucracy and, hence, lower administrative costs than private insurers. It has been more successful in controlling costs."  Really?  Does he believe this crap?  Does he have ageing parents?  Has he seen the bureaucratic paperwork jungle seniors must navigate? 

As with absolutely every industry in which the government regulates the most, prices for private insurance are raising faster than (official) inflation.  Why is he not screaming about the fact that colleges are raising tuition faster than even the costs of healthcare are raising? 

Has anyone asked the question, "Why is the price of college tuition outpacing even the price of health care, when in reality the actual cost to deliver an education, due to technology advances, is significantly decreasing?"  Could it be that with the nationalization of student loans the free market is skewed?  Could it be that the same thing is occurring in private insurance (notice I did not say healthcare - healthcare and health insurance are two very different things). 

Now people like Mr. Krugman want to add yet another layer by forcing government control over all healthcare:  “Most health reformers I know would have supported Medicare for all if they had considered it politically feasible.”  Nothing will be more expensive than free healthcare. 

We DO NOT have a healthcare crisis in this country.  Everyone has access to healthcare – everyone.  No one is turned away at hospitals.  What we have in a 3^rd party payer system, so prices for services rendered are never enter into patient/doctor discussions.  That is the single greatest problem with our system.  My Dad ran a gas station and I am pretty sure he paid the doctors bill for my delivery in gasoline and the hospital bill in cash.  Prices were negotiated and not submitted to a 3^rd party to decide what should and shouldn’t get paid. 

I, for one, have long since given up the concept that I’ll be provided free healthcare and get paid my social security benefits when I reach retirement age.  The money is simply not there and to tell the American people that it will be is the cruelest of lies.  We are simply on an unsustainable spending path, when $.42 of every dollar we spend in borrowed.  Means testing and raising the age for future beneficiaries now, so they can plan accordingly is the only responsible thing to do.  Of course, when do liberals ever care about doing the responsible thing?  They only care about doing the things that make them feel good, regardless of the future consequences.  Does Mr. Krugman even know that Obamacare guts $500,000,000 from Medicare?  Does he even know that Obamacare already has the mechanisms in place to ration healthcare via the newly created Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board?  Does he even care about facts, or is all about what makes him feel good?

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

By refusing to be honest about the fact that terrorists are most likely to be of Middle Eastern decent is ridiculous....   And dangerous...



From the Gateway Pundit:

"Somehow the findings from this December report didn’t make it into the video…In the last 24 months (2009 and 2010) 126 people were indicted on terrorist-related charges in the United States. All of them were Muslim."

Watch in fear...

I've never met a single job creator whose said to me, "I can't wait until the government raises my taxes so I can hire some more people."

"We don't need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system. Then we need a government that has the discipline to take that additional revenue and use it to pay down the debt and never grow it again." - Marco Rubio



This is freaking awesome!  We need to clone these two!

Marco - Reagan - Rubio....?

Wow.  I had thought Bobby Jindal was the next Ronaldus Magnus.  I stand corrected.  It might just be Marco Rubio.  Maybe a Perry/Rubio ticket is what this country needs...

"Barbaric", but not "racist" only holds true when it's black on white violence.

Flynn calls looting, beatings in Riverwest barbaric

By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel

July 6, 2011

Though Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn noted Tuesday that crime is colorblind, he called the Sunday night looting of a convenience store near the park and beatings of a group of people who had gone to the park disturbing, outrageous and barbaric.

"Color blind"?

"They just said 'Oh, white girl bleeds a lot,' " said Perry, 22, who was attacked at Kilbourn Reservoir Park over the Fourth of July weekend.

Here is a video report on the attacks... 

EPA doing the bidding of "The One"....

EPA finalizes stricter air pollution rules for Wisconsin, other states

By Lee Bergquist and Thomas Content of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday finalized stronger regulations for Wisconsin and 26 other states aimed at curbing air pollution from long-distance sources.
The likely result: Higher electric bills in the coming years. 

A group of power companies known as the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity called the action one of the most costly crackdowns on coal ever. 

Nationwide, the EPA estimated that utilities are projected to spend $800 million on the rule in 2014, in addition to $1.6 billion a year that's been spent to satisfy an earlier version of the regulations.

But, wait!  It is all worth it, in the name of lower healthcare costs....

...EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson extolled the health benefits of cleaner air, including $120 billion to $280 billion in annual health and welfare benefits beginning in 2014.

EPA's analysis found the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year and prevent more than 400,000 asthma attacks as well as 19,000 admissions to hospitals.

What is the REAL reason for imposing these draconian rules?  Could it all be part of The Obama Plan of fundamentally transforming the U.S.?