The chart below is the result of the ethanol boondoggle, a federal welfare program for Midwestern farmers disguised as an “alternative energy” program. Massive federal subsidies are prodding farmers to plant way more corn than they otherwise would (resulting in rising prices of wheat, soybeans, and other grains that would have been planted in its place). And because the subsidies are diverting huge stocks of corn to ethanol instead of to human and animal food, it’s causing prices of corn products to soar, too–as well as meat like beef and chicken, which is fed corn.

All of this for an energy source that’s not only extremely expensive, it may not be efficient enough to cover the costs of producing it (else, why would it need to be subsidized?). So much market distortion., and yet when the market naturally signals for new energy sources via higher gas and oil prices, our wise politicians do everything they can to artificially bring and keep prices down.

People don’t trust the free market, but they trust this?

Article here.

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