Plus ethanol uses more fuel to produce it then you get, plus it raises prices on corn which causes milk and all corn based products, including beef, to raise in price. The effects of which are already hitting some ranchers I know.
Only so far as settling corn prices agitate the prices of other crops that are replaced with corn.
The real culprit is beef, and raising steers for slaughter, which is extremely inefficient both in terms of space used and feeding. If beef production were slashed in half, we would have far more corn to use for ethanol than we would know what to do with.
How about eliminate farm subsidies?
And no, hybrids don't save money, not for 90% of people (the extra cost isn't outweighed by gas savings for years of normal use - which is why it MIGHT be advantageous to taxicab drivers, who drive a lot in urban areas where hybrids get the biggest savings).
Wrong.
A civic hybrid costs you about $4,000 more than a similarly equipped gasoline-engine Civic.
Federal tax credit on a 2006 Honda Civic: $2,100. And that's a credit, not deduction. We've already cut the cost of owning a hybrid to $1,900 over the alternative.
How long does it take you to make up that $1,900?
Well, a hybrid gets about ten miles more per gallon than the standard Civic (assuming 50/50 highway-to-city driving). You only need about 125,000 miles at $3 a gallon to make that up, even fewer if you're living in a place like California where $4 a gallon is more the norm. (You only need 100k miles to make it up then.)
Sorry, hybrids are not a practical fuel saving solution for those who live in rural areas. Thats why our vehicle dealerships don't even bother selling them around here.
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