Stan Geiger

Speaking of the Fairgrounds...

The Tulsa fairgrounds has been in the news a lot lately. And that makes me think of the fair. So what about the big fall event?

Well, if I had anything to do with the fair, I'd be scared shitless right about now.

Reports from last year's fair said attendance was down---and that midway spending was way down. And it's been nothing but bad news for average folks ever since.

PSO has bumped up its charges considerably since last fall. Air conditioning bills for this summer will, no doubt, be a shock to many family budgets.

Thanks, PSO!

Gasoline has gone up considerably since last year. It's running close to $4 a gallon now, and I'd say there is at least a reasonable chance it will hit $5 by September.

Food prices have gone up since last year---and are predicted to continue to rise. In large part, we can thank maybe the most ignorant public policy decision ever: that of pushing the production of ethanol.

We're taking food and burning it, in essence. Corn has gotten more expensive because of it. That makes feeding animals more expensive which, in turn, makes just about everything in the food supply more expensive.

Ethanol is not the solution to our energy woes. And it is anything but "green." More corn fields equals more pesticides, more fertilizers and more fuel consumed by farm equipment. I understand it takes more energy to produce ethanol from corn than the ethanol creates. Ethanol can't be pipelined; it breaks down, they say. That means more fuel-burning trucks for transport. And to cap it off, I saw an expert on TV not long ago that said adding alcohol to gasoline causes a chemical reaction that makes the gasoline burn dirtier.

Ethanol makes no sense at all.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, given the financial beating working people are taking, from where will the 8 bucks for a corn dog and a watered-down beer and the 7 bucks for a turkey leg come?

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