America needs therapy

[Declan McCullagh]

On Mon, Oct 01, 2001 at 09:55:34AM -0500, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>       Besides which, the true cost of gasoline at the pump would be
> $10-15 @ gallon without all the gov't subsidies to the oil industry.

I think this canard has been debunked on the list in the last week.

The current cost (say, US$1.50 a gallon) would probably be closer to half
that without taxes on each step of the process.

As for ethanol, which you cite, if it's so splendid an alternative, one
would think that ADM could survive without such lavish corporate welfare.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa241es.html
       Thanks to federal 
       protection of the domestic sugar industry, ethanol subsidies, 
       subsidized grain exports, and various other programs, ADM has 
       cost the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and 
       has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in 
       higher prices and higher taxes over that same period. At 
       least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products 
       heavily subsidized or protected by the American government. 

-Declan