The Financial Times Must Read the Armchair Energist Too!

FT publishes a story I commented on five weeks ago!

The ethanol hoax has crossed the pond. According to the Financial Times (h/t NewsBusters.org) The bubble in the ethanol market can be directly attributed to the US government’s mandate that it be added to the gasoline supply. It is one of the largest corporate welfare program that hurts almost everyone it touches:

• Taxpayers foot the bill for an expensive biofuel.
• Corn used for ethanol production diverts a viable food source. Estimates show that a 20-gallon tankful of ethanol could feed a person for an entire year.
• The cost of production and the energy used to produce it leave a larger ‘carbon footprint’ than petroleum-based fuel production.
• The government mandates lured investors into the market (and as I illustrated in my earlier post – entire towns) who are now left holding the bag now that the bubble has popped.

Watch George Mason University professor Don Boudreaux from a special report ‘America 2012′

Considering the failure of Fannie, Freddie and the banking bailout, the government has reached its quota on screw-ups for one year. It’s time to cut ethanol off the gravy train and let the market decide.

Investors suffer as ethanol boom dries up – Financial Times
Surprise: Government Mandates Behind Ethanol ‘Bubble’ – NewsBusters.org
TAE FLASHBACK – Once Drunk on Ethanol, Now an Economic Hangover