Henry M. Banta and Martin Lobel, two lawyers in Washington, D.C., posed a series of questions for reporters to be asking in the wake of President Bush’s State of the Union speech about the best ways to reduce oil consumption in the country.
Some of their questions are:
Q. Why can’t we afford a gasoline tax? Gasoline prices in the US, even now, are very low in terms of per capita income, about 4.2%.
Q. If we really care about alternatives, why do we have a high tariff on imported ethanol? While the ethanol program is a very generous and inefficient subsidy for firms like ADM, is it consistent with the President’s State of the Union energy policy?
Q. If the President was serious about increasing research into alternative fuels, why did his budget cut the funds for research into alternative fuels?
Read the entire posting on Nieman Watchdog here.
