Some recognition that subsidies are a waste

Never saw this coming. Even the notoriously liberal Washington Post appears to be recognizing the folly of government intervention. I won't hold my breath and expect them to think rationally in the future, but it's a start.

"Overcharged" by the Editorial Board
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/overcharged/2011/12/30/gIQAzQ0yUP_story.html

I am happy to see that ethanol subsidies and subsidies for installing a 220 V electric car charging stations are now history. In a sign of growth, the Washington Post finally recognizes the ethanol subsidies (for internal subsidies on domestic ethanol and tariffs on imported ethanol) as "two of the most wasteful subsidies ever to clutter the Internal Revenue Code..."

Check out this interesting wording from the Post: "Evidence is mounting that President Obama was overly optimistic to pledge that there would be 1 million EVs on the road by 2015. Electric cars are not likely to form a significant part of the solution to America’s dependence on foreign oil, or to global warming, in the near future. They simply pose too many issues of price and practicality to attract a large segment of the car-buying public. More prosaic fuel-economy innovations such as conventional hybrids, clean-diesel cars and advanced gasoline engines all show much more promise than electrics."

That's the nice thing about having a brain, I don't have to wait for the Post to tell me this stuff. I can figure it out for myself.

I wish people would realize that it's not just ethanol or electric car subsidies are wasteful. Government shouldn't be getting involved in picking winners and losers in the market. They just make things worse.