As a high school economics teacher, I wish to thank you for such a quality publication and quality teacher guide. Finding supplemental materials for my classroom is hard enough; but to have such an outstanding source of material at my fingertips each month is fantastic for both my students and myself.
If the first step in treating an addiction is admitting that you have one, then maybe America is making progress. “We have a serious problem,” President Bush declared in this year’s State of the Union address, in which he outlined an ambitious new energy strategy. The treatment Mr. Bush proposes is the development of “cellulosic ethanol,” or fuel made from agricultural waste such as plant stalks and wheat straw. Proponents tout it as a Holy Grail for energy independence. But the reality is more complicated.
Once deeply dependent on Middle Eastern oil, Brazil has managed to do what Mr. Bush has laid out as a goal for the U.S. But Brazil’s experience shows that to successfully copy its example, the U.S. may have to make political choices that U.S. politicians have ducked in the past.
Will America’s struggling domestic auto makers be prepared to compete in the energy future President Bush envisions? They certainly hope so. General Motors and Ford, in particular, are embracing the president’s latest energy initiative one possible way to escape their financial problems and better compete with fast-growing foreign auto makers such as Toyota and Honda.