(By Eric Falkenstein) When you don't have a bottom line, rather a mish-mash of objectives, massive inefficiencies can be tolerated. Here's a bit on our
new green navy:The USNS Henry J. Kaiser carried nearly 900,000 gallons of biofuel blended with petroleum to power the cruisers, destroyers and fighter jets of what the Navy has taken to calling the "Great Green Fleet," the first carrier strike group to be powered largely by alternative fuels...Some Republican lawmakers have seized on the fuel's $26-a-gallon price, compared to $3.60 for conventional fuel.
In addition to the rather large extra expense we have an increase in crony capitalism, those bureaucrats from both sides of the aisle will be cashing in:
The Pentagon paid Solazyme Inc $8.5 million in 2009 for 20,055 gallons of biofuel based on algae oil, or $424 a gallon. Solazyme's strategic advisers, according to its website, include T.J. Glauthier, who served on Obama's White House Transition team and dealt with energy issues, but also former CIA director R. James Woolsey, a conservative national security official.
The bigger the size and scope of government, the more of such winners, who then pay for candidates who continue their subsidies, why we have had a quota on sugar imports since 1934. But I'm sure the Keynesians will note that a dollar spent by government otherwise would have been destroyed via private thrift, so it's all good.