Using Common Sense

Matthew Wald actually finds people who are working on something other than ethanol from Corn, and then We find them still producing ethanol because of the 51 Cents per gallon Tax Break for ethanol. I pointed out yesterday, or the day before, that planting Sugar Beets would be superior to the ethanol from Corn; I even made a sketch estimate which I show no one, but shows that Sugar Beet production would be about 6-8 gallons cheaper in vehicle fuels per acre over Corn production, Fertilizer Costs would be about half that of Corn production, and that Equipment Costs per acre would be about 75% of Corn production. Farmers, though, are heavily capitalized for Corn production, and ethanol plants are currently designed for Corn, though they could easily be converted to Sugar Beets. We should have Zero Interest Federal loans for conversion to Sugar Beet production, and Zero Interest Federal loans for development of fuels other than ethanol from Sugar Beets, Garbage, and Sewage; the Above best utilized by elimination of the ethanol Tax Break.

This Act passed by the House sounds good, but almost all the hazards cited in the article do apply. A much simpler reworking of the Insurance laws could provide much greater Aid, while limiting liability. I would pass legislation which insisted that Home Insurance be issued in lots of $100k, where the Insurer had to accept liability for Damage from any source, and Insured could buy as many lots of Insurance as they needed, desired, or could afford. It suddenly becomes less expensive to Insurers who can set premium rates based upon Risk, and can estimate the relative Risk they might run. Insured can insure for less than the full value of the dwelling, and assume a great share of the Risk burden themselves, while knowing the full danger to personal finance of building expensively in high Risk areas. Poorer Residents in Risk areas generally can suffice elimination of Risk with one lot of $100k, and Tax law can be altered to give a Tax credit for the Average of one lot at $100k to all Taxpayers. The Whole treatment in this manner does not cancel the Risk, but forces awareness of the Risk on both Homeowners and Insurers, and does dismiss the gamble as to Who pay What.

Felix Salmon has the wrong attitude towards the lack of skilled blue collar labor in this Country, suggesting that We need more Immigration. What We need is an additional Year of Technical training at the Community College level paid for by the School Board system, qualifying all High School students for Apprenticeship entrance into blue collar positions. This could best be facilitated by making it mandatory–regular College, or Community College. Such a level of Schooling would give Personnel Directors greater choice of Applicants, lower Training Costs per Intern, and mention of the high Pay scales available will attract the Applicants. The later attraction can be enforced by labor contracts which assure at least a 3-year Tenure, if the Internship is successfully completed. The best way is to offer the young Workers a venue to success in blue collar occupations, not to impact this Country with huge increases of foreign labor who cannot truly integrate the Training programs due to lack of language skills and extremely variable rates of unverifiable experience. lgl