eCommerce blog 4

In the Wall Street Journal article An Ethanol Bailout by an unknown columnist in the opinion section it touches on a new industry seeking governmental bailout help. This industry is the ethanol industry and one that needed government help to begin operations in the first place and now that it is faltering it needs more. While gas prices were high ethanol was considered a substitute however, since gas prices have plummeted it has caused ethanol producers to lower their prices to stay competitive. However, at these current prices for ethanol fuel the price is barely covering the cost of production. Thus, the industry has began to ask for federal bailout money to keep the sectors operations running. Additionally, the industry has asked congress to increase the 10% limit of ethanol you are able to add to gasoline.

One of the reasons I decided to blog about this article is because I found it a sign of the times in that the government and big business give no thought to what they do except for what they thinks going to get them votes. In my opinion ethanol fuel was a bust from the start, I felt it was just a way for politicians to try and gain some votes from farmers. Just using common sense you could tell that an industry that can't support itself to begin with shouldn't be around. There are so many other sectors that have much more promise like solar energy, electric energy, and even hydrogen. The question I ask myself is why would the government support ethanol, which doesn't provide benefits environmentally and economically. Most of all ethanol isn't even good for your car to begin with that's why they set a limit on the amount able to be added to regular gasoline.