Corn Prices and the Ethanol Scam

"With corn supplies tightening fast, rising prices will hit not only products made directly from corn such as breakfast cereals, but those from animals who rely on corn for their sustenance - including pork, poultry, beef, milk, eggs and cheese.

The automotive demand for corn-based ethanol is nearly insatiable. Filling a 25-gallon tank on one mid-size vehicle consumes enough grain to feed an Egyptian peasant for a full-year. Yet converting the entire U.S. grain harvest - corn, rice, wheat, barley and oats - to ethanol would supply only 16 percent of America's motoring fuel.

What's worse, ethanol is not even an effective substitute for gasoline - requiring huge federal subsidies to compete at the pump and delivering only 70 percent the energy of an equivalent amount of gas."

From the article "Ethanol's insatiable appetite for corn could trigger food crisis."

Perhaps the ethanol scam is like burning wood in a fireplace - it makes us feel good, but results in a net energy loss, making us worse off overall.