| Just goes to show that if you badmouth something long enough people start to believe it.
Subsidies? Tell me how much subsides we have with oil? Billions upon Billions. Look at what we just spend just on the Military alone to keep oil flowing from the middle east. Ethanol has helped the taxpayer. With the higher price of corn the USDA has save Billions in subsidies, payments to farmers. And as far as I know ADM doesn't get any government money for Ethanol. The subsidies from the government for Ethanol are paid to the oil companies. They get 51 cents a gallon for every gallon they mix. The reason they do this is because without the 51 cent blending fee the oil companies would not use it.
As for energy, Ethanol takes far, far less energy to make than Oil does. And you can send it through a pipeline but it would have to be its own pipeline. Hundreds of millions are spent by Oil companies and Companies like Tyson foods discrediting Ethanol just so they can have no competition with energy and cheap corn.
Ethanol makes up for 8% of the US gas supply. Now just imagine if overnight the government came out with a statement that our gas supply is now 8% less. What do you think gas prices would do? With out Ethanol our gas prices would rise 13 to 15%, or 50 cents a gallon. Then would you be saying, "we don't need another government "feel good" welfare program"? |
The oil industry needed no government subsidies to get started. It certainly needs none to remain viable and very profitable. If you want to reduce government subsidies to the oil (and almost any other) companies/industries, you will not get any argument from me--in fact I'll join that choir.
However, many others see things opposite to your view when it comes to ethanol. You can start here:
Ethanol Makes Gasoline Costlier, Dirtier according to this Cato Institute article:
Ethanol Makes Gasoline Costlier, Dirtier
New York Times Editorial--The High Costs of Ethanol:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/opinion/19wed1.html
Hubpages--The Politics of Ethanol:
The Politics of Ethanol
Technology Review--
Ethanol Demand Threatens Food Prices. Rising corn prices are already affecting everything from the cost of tortillas in Mexico City to the cost of producing eggs in the United States:
Technology Review: Ethanol Demand Threatens Food Prices=
FSO Editorials--The real cost of corn ethanol:
FSO Editorials: "What Is the Real Cost of Corn Ethanol" by Ronald R. Cooke 02/02/2007