Mixing corn-based ethanol as a fuel additive was a horrible idea. It produces 34 percent less energy than gasoline, immediately reducing fuel mileage.
A 2008 Science study showed that converting land into corn production cost hundreds of times more in carbon emissions than ethanol saved.
The cost to the world in lost calories was enormous as well. Cotton, hay, soybeans, and wheat saw price hikes. Beef prices jumped as feed prices soared. Third World countries were the hardest hit. Food stamp allowances insulated the American poor from malnourishment as tax-provided dollar allowances adjusted upwards.
Taxpayers, commuters, consumers, and the environment are still paying.
Iowa’s powerful Republican senators, Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, fight hard to maintain the boom of subsidized market ethanol created for their corn-growing state.
