"Revenue Neutral"

I was reading about one of the islands I used to live on - Block Island, RI - and I came across the most unusual article. Their electricity company has to raise the rates again ... because people are reducing their consumption so much! I guess some put up windmills, solar stuff, fluorescent bulbs, and so forth and kilowatt hours for the main generator went down. Because revenue had to be there to pay for the employess and maintenance, costs had to go up by about 9 percent.

Wow, talk about paying more for less. I wonder what will happen if they start getting cheap power from wave machines and wind turbines located off their beaches?

Then I saw an even more unusual example: the fuel consumption standards for cars. For the first time in decades, the average fuel economy will be pushed up to 35 MPG for new cars. Wow, an environmental success?

Nope, the Fed makes a ton of money off the fuel tax, so if cars burn less gas we'd loose money used for building highways and mass transit. According to the budget balancers, any shortfall in the fuel tax would have to be made up by ... another darned tax! And we know how most people feel about taxes, especially the really rich folks.

The more I learn the more I have to shake my head in disbelief.