According to the International Business Times, Congress allowed a longtime subsidy for ethanol -- in the form of tax credits -- to expire with the dawn of this new year. But ethanol isn't the only form of alternative energy that the government subsidizes.

* The ethanol subsidy, brought about by the Energy Tax Act of 1978 to provide stimulus to the industry, cost the government about $6 billion in tax revenue in 2011, the International Business Times reported.

* According to The Motley Fool, power sources -- traditional and renewable -- receive millions of dollars in government subsidies each year. When the amount of those subsidies are compared by cost per energy equivalent of a barrel of oil consumed, the subsidy for solar comes out the most expensive, at $63. The cost of the government subsidy for the energy equivalent to a barrel of oil consumed for wind stands at $32.59, and biomass/biofuels is at $20.37. As a comparison, the subsidy for coal is 39 cents. Nuclear is $1.79.

* Recently, the Navy signed a contract to purchase 450,000 gallons of biofuels for $12 million, which equals $26.67 per gallon, The Motley Fool reported.

* According to an editorial published in the Orange County Register, Washington's support of "hard-to-harness, expensive, "alternative" fuels, inadequate to meet ever-growing demand" is causing a self-made energy crisis. With 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil in North America, the editorial states, there is enough oil to meet U.S. demand for about 175 years.

* The Orange County Register editorial points to a half-billion dollar loan to Solyndra and $20 million spent "to create 14 jobs to weatherize four Seattle houses" as examples of the government-created energy crisis.

* A June 7 op-ed in the New York Times also lamented the cost of renewable energy, pointing to California's 2011 mandate to obtain a third of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. In order to meet their mandate through solar and wind, the New York Times piece stated, California will need to have 129 square miles of solar panels and more than a thousand square miles of wind turbines. Each would require land for solar lines and each megawatt of wind capacity produced requires roughly fifty tons of steel.

If the government stopped subsidies, the economy would crash and burn hard. Basically its "free" money at the cost to taxpayers. In itself its a market of its own. There is money to be made by growing corn and selling it for much less than it takes to produce.

I think subsidies are a joke. I would rather see expiring tax credits/breaks if anything must be done.

Subsidies are a good example of corporate greed digging in the pockets of government.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

Farm subsidies are something that need to end. Today's farms are large corporations, not Farmer Joe and his family...those people don't see subsidy money since they generally work for the larger corporation.

Look at the number of congressmen that collect on subsidy money. People are quick to blame corporations, when the greed is within the beast.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Get rid of all subsidies and deductions and incentives and non-profits and so forth. Tax everybody equally. No preferences. No punishments.

Equal under the law.

What a concept.

I agree with it fully......except for one tiny subsidy/tax break that benefits me...... Everyone else should pay their full and fair share.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

These sorts of subsidies are all throughout the tax code and relatively few of them are progressive. They overwhelmingly redistribute income and/or wealth upward. This article says it nicely, I think: The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - 20,000 Leagues Under the State

That's the whole problem, and that has been the politicians strategies for decades or even longer. The politicians don't propose and agree to hand outs because they want to help someone. They hand out money to buy votes. They have brought it now to a point where there are more voters sucking on the government teat than not.

So now we are at a point where if we pull the rug out from undeer all the greedy people sucking on the government teat all at once, we see economic collapse OR we continue borrowing money at this insane rate, going deeper and deeper into debt and experience economic collapse.

There's really no way out. It's only a matter of time.

If you're sucking on the government teat, regardless of whether you are rich or poor, you can feel proud that you are doing your part.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Subsidies sometimes are a way to pay folks to do research. The Solar tax credits offered back starting when Carter was president basically paid people to create solar devices and test them in their own homes.

I did about a dozen such homes. I like to think the ones I did were pretty successful.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I enjoyed the videos of shrimp running on a treadmill.

Worth every penny of taxpayers dollars. I'm sure we will all benefit from this scientific research ........

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Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



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