Stranger Than Fiction

If you were writing a story about the economic collapse of the greatest nation on Earth, how would you set it up?

Big government spending on the order of moonshot, or a war?

A couple of massive natural disasters to shake things up?

Next an economic bubble, something in the big-ticket housing market, perhaps?

Government mandates driving the cost of consumer goods higher?

Increased fuel costs caused by one or more of the above, or some other random reason?

A labor strike or two to accelerate the whole mess?

We live in interesting times, don't we?

Ethanol & Cents Per Mile

I have run two tanks of E0 or E10 through Cornholio now.

Which one do you think I find cheaper in terms of cents per mile?


I'll let you all vote & discuss and then I will pick this up again.

Corn Squeezin's Economics

The Empress and myself just purchased a new vehicle. It is a flex-fuel vehicle and I am learning about corn squeezings aka E85.

Of course, it is not widely available. I also tell you 60-70 cents per gallon under regular fuel really gets your attention. However, I also notice a significant drop in mileage when running on corn squeezings. With the new years I am going to track the mileage very closely to determine the cents per mile. My guess the cents per mile will be close to a wash with perhaps a slight edge to corn squeezings.

Being that corn squeezings are not widely available another phenomena I see is wide variance in the price. For example, at the Corner of HWY 10 & South Oneida in Appleton (or is that Menasha there?) just across from Waverly Beach is a Kwik Trip (used to be a Shell Station) that sells corn squeezings. Then we have a Renew Station on Wisconsin Avenue on the West side of town (near Indian Darbar restaurant), the Renew Station sells E85, E20, and E10 corn squeezings.

The difference in price between the Renew and the Kwik Trip is significant, I don't know what it is now, but I remember seeing a 30 cent difference once.

E85 is new, the sources are few. This means knowledge of the marketplace is much more limited. I am driving to Menasha from Manitowoc there is no way I am going to know about the cheap E85 at the Renew station. Even for people who live in the area there is a good chance they will not know the large difference in price.