Applied Semiotics

When I started blogging, I told myself that I was not going to blog from anger. I told myself that I was going to mostly write analysis about marketing, the internet, the automotive industry. The subjects would be edifying and the tone would be a kind of readable, Harpers-esque midbrow academic. A think tank of one.

But this is the dumbest fucking thing I have read in a long, long time:

"Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks"

One hundred dollars. To every taxpayer in the US.

On the IRS website I learned that there were 130,423,626 individual filings in the US in 2003.

130,423,626 x 100 usd = 13,042,362,600. Go ahead and slide that decimal point over a couple of orders of magnitude.

That's THIRTEEN BILLION DOLLARS.

Not to mention the overhead to distribute the thirteen billion.

This bill is being sponsored by legislative superstars like Senators Rick Santorum (R- PA) and Ted Stevens (R-AK). I am further saddened to say that the whole enchilada is being quarterbacked by Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa. Iowa. A state that is leading the nation in the production of biofuels. A state with a real stake in researching alternative energy.

What would 13 billion dollars worth of biofuel investment look like? What would that kind of investment in research and development or biofuel infrastructure look like for our nation? What would it look like for the good people of Iowa, who are supposedly Grassley's constituency?

What would 13 billion dollars worth of state of the art refining capacity look like in America? Recent studies suggest that fuel prices in California would be $.25 to $.50 cheaper if there was new refining capacity. But NIMBYism and a total lack of ANY MARKET INCENTIVE for the petrofuel industry to increase refining capacity have paralyzed the development of new refining infrastructure in this nation for the last twenty years.

What would 13 billion dollars worth of tax incentives for high-fuel economy passenger cars look like? What if the bonus was higher for hybrids and clean-diesel super-sippers build here in AMERICA, using american technology, burning american biofuel produced in american midwest, by american farmers? WITH NOT ONE SLIM DIME GOING IN TO THE POCKETS OF CORRUPT, DESPOTIC MIDDLE EASTERN OIL INTERESTS?

And why in the wide, wide world of sports - why for the love of all that is holy are we, the american taxpayer, paying for this Republican election-season faux-populist snowjob? Why are these supposed titans of the free market so happy to give our money away? Can't we let a little good old Adam Smith Invisible Hand pressure work on those prices some?

In marketing we have a little thumbnail rule called the $100 test:

If you would make more impact giving out the project budget as $100 cash incentives, the idea is no good. But good is such a dangerous term, because "good" is usually a value judgement grounded in relativities. Who is this $100 good for? It sure isn't good for us, the american taxpayer.

We elected these people. So let's keep our Bomb & Spend domestic and foreign policy. Let's have the foxes rob the henhouse one more time to stay in power, mortgage our collective future and security for their short term gain.

Energy Security is National Security.

The Midwest should always come before the Mideast.

Technorati Tags: automotive, government, oil war, peak oil, Bomb & Spend