LOL! What a farce!
The exact quote was:
Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable alternative energy sources. And we are on the threshold of incredible advances.So tonight I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative—a 22-percent increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy—to push for breakthroughs in two vital areas. To change how we power our homes and offices, we will invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants, revolutionary solar and wind technologies, and clean, safe nuclear energy.
We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We'll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips and stalks or switchgrass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within 6 years.
Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.
Link
That was 2006. It's now 2012. So, ethanol should just about be competitive, right?
Truth is, that was just big-government posturing. Everyone knows corn ethanol is stinking political scam. And cellulosic ethanol is still largely a VC pipe dream. That's where it should stay — with the VCs. Republican or Democrat, the government should stay the hell out!
Let the VCs invest. And let the oil companies drill, drill drill!
Well, not that simple. Big OIl is in bed with the socialists, with the nationals. Palin could tell you as thing or two about how those people operate. The heads of the majors know they need to pander to those in political power. That said, the more government, the more inefficient becomes the oil industry. The oil bureaucracies are top-heavy, but far less so than government agencies. Pair the two and you get a close approximation to the Mexican national company, which has plundered its fields.