The Pigs at the Trough Have Learned Nothing

While the tax deal Barack Obama negotiated with Congressional Republicans contains many features that will help the economy grow, it also faces added elements ostensibly needed to win the votes of wavering senators.

One such deal is a continuation of ethanol subsidies, which will cost $4.9 billion in 2011. Not only has Al Gore, the green lobby's "star", come out against ethanol on environmental grounds, after championing it for so many years, but it is adding billions of dollars to the budget deficit at a time of staggering deficits.

Even if ethanol had merits, we should be eliminating all business subsidies as one step in improving our awful fiscal situation.

The fact that with trillion dollar deficits projected for years the government can include this $5 billion give away that doesn't even achieve the environmental goals for which it is intended demonstrates the lack of seriousness of our political leaders.

This is how government financial crisis arise, and why tragically it often takes such a crisis to force people to make decisions they otherwise wouldn't.