My wife just returned from the supermarket “shocked” at having to pay $15 for a gallon of Mazola corn oil. This is a direct result of Congress’ decision to subsidize the diversion of corn to the production of ethanol for fuel. Thanks to those geniuses we now have high-priced fuel and cooking oil.

It’s kind of ironic that all those people I’ve heard about who have converted their cars to run on cooking oil may now have to convert them back because gasoline is now probably less expensive than used cooking oil.

This is one more piece of evidence that the government can’t run the economy. Every time it tries to fix one thing it breaks something else. Congress is now trying to throttle back the oil speculators. Who knows what kind of chaos that will cause? Gasoline prices may swing up and down by a dollar or more over the course of a few weeks, causing every vehicle operator to become a speculator. Do I fill up all my cans this week or wait one more? Do I start using my reserves now or fill up again from the pump?

If you don’t appreciate the complexity of our economy you should read this essay: I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read. After you’ve read it consider the likely outcome of 535 politicians trying to improve the process of manufacturing pencils.