Why I Am Happy and Optimistic Despite Ethanol Subsidies and Bad Laws

An editorial in the Columbia Daily Tribune deplores a new rule requiring ethanol to be mixed in with gasoline starting in 2008:

This unholy interference in the free marketplace was promoted by Gov. Matt Blunt and eagerly engineered by corn growers and ethanol plant promoters, Democrats and Republicans alike. As a result, already the price of corn has doubled and millions of gallons of new refinery production are coming on line, all because big government suddenly got bigger.

This is a bad law, but fortunately it will someday be obsolete. As scientists study energy, they come up with new fuels and technologies that are safer, cheaper, and more efficient. Eventually we’ll have better ways of powering cars than burning gasoline or ethanol. We might even have better vehicles than cars. So, I’m not going to let this law disturb my long-term happiness and optimism. This requirement will eventually look as funny as those laws about not tying your horse to a lamppost.