Tag: Boston Tea Party

Budget and Taxes

February, 2018

I was listening to NPR on the way to work today.  NPR, you may think means National Public Radio, but it doesn’t.  It means National Platform for Ridiculousness.

I listen because I want to know what the enemy is doing.

So, it was about all these liberals complaining about the excessively high budget and taxes Congress and Trump were passing.  I know, I know.  Who’d of thought liberals would complain about high taxes and a big budget, but they were.  They interviewed this “expert” about what the American people thought about such abuses.  He said something to the effect,

“When our country was beginning there was a Boston Tea Party to protest the excessive taxes coming out of Washington.”

No pause, that might have indicated that he realized that Washington (or America for that matter) didn’t exist at that time or that the beef was with the King of England.

Why do physicians get sued even when they did the right thing correctly, and idiots like this are allowed to spew stupid gibberish like this?

Your grumpy Uncle/Brother Dave.  All childish invectives used in this post are appropriate and true.

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/09/584640265/bipartisan-budget-agreement-spends-too-much-money-for-most-conservative-republic

Weary

The Boston Tea/Alcohol Party

November, 2017

Some will say that I might be just a little prejudiced on this issue, but I think the government is a little on the wrong side here.  I’m not saying that I’m an anti-oil company, big government liberal or anything.  You be the judge.

I noticed a sign at a gas station on the way to work tonight.  Unleaded gasoline was $2.29 per gallon and E-85 was $1.99 per gallon.  Of course, we’ve all been through the analysis that the only reason for ethanol to be cheaper than gasoline is government subsidies.

But that’s not the issue.

The quantitative analysis.

E-85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.  The ethanol is distilled from grain products grown right here in the good ‘ol US of A.  So, people who purchase the ethanol pay 30 cents for the gasoline in the mixture and $1.69 for the ethanol.  So, if the gallon was pure ethanol, they would be paying $2.34 for a gallon.

Do you see where I’m going with this, yet?  No?

Well, let’s look at the cheapest liquor in the US.  For Example, McCormick Vodka.  At about $36 per gallon, it is 80 proof, or 40% ethanol. It is made from distilled grains grown right here in the good ‘ol US of A, mind you.  So, still speaking of the cheap stuff, one pays  $90 for one gallon of pure ethanol. I’ll leave it up to the reader to work out the price of higher quality Oban scotch, for instance.

The qualitative analysis.

Our government is subsidizing an industry that takes domestically produced grain and makes fuel so that a small minority of consumers can feel good while a sister industry uses the same grains in the same process to make the same product that a majority of consumers use to feel good.

But for a hugely different price.

This, in my humble opinion, deserves the same actions as the Boston Tea Party.

From your grumpy Uncle/Brother Dave. For those interested, it’s all algebra.