Legislative lunacy

Great Ceasar's Ghost, the Louisiana Senate just approved a bill mandating ethanol in gasoline sold in the state.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she will sign the legislation because it would give farmers a second market for their crops.

Yeah, okay. It gets better.

“This will spur our farm economy,” Blanco said. “I also think that in the long haul it can help with the price of gasoline.”

You want help with the price of gasoline, Governor? So do I. How about drilling for oil wherever it is found, including the coast of Florida and the ANWR?

Blanco counseled patience as the cost of producing ethanol increases the price of gasoline about half-a-dollar per gallon.

Patience? I'm about out of patience. Louisiana is cash-strapped, overtaxed and underpaid. Fifty cents a gallon is lot of money. For what? To give the farmers another market for grain they can't sell? Yet, there's more.

The legislation would entice businesses to build plants that would turn plant matter — such as, sugar cane, corn and soybeans — into an additive for gasoline called ethanol, she said. As more production facilities open and more ethanol becomes available, the price should go down, she said.

Governor, have you ever known the price of any commodity to go down over the long term? This is government meddling in the private sector. If it were a good idea, companies and investors would be lining up to produce ethanol. It is not economically sound or the market would take care of it.

You want to increase supply, Governor, how about immediately unshackling the regulations that deal with refineries? I can live with supply and demand, those are immutable forces that drive our economy.

This looks like another Bob Odom ploy to increase the power of the Agriculture department. Unfortunately, the Senate bought it.

When gas prices go up another fifty cents a gallon based on this lunacy, the Queen Bee best get ready for voter backlash the likes of which she has never seen. She thought it was bad during Katrina? Wait till this knuckleheaded law starts affecting the pocketbook of every Louisiana driver. This bill may well be the one that ends her political aspirations.