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I've changed my views on ethanol a bit over time (from staunchly opposed to more accepting). I agree with everything Sammyg2 said -- them's the facts. And has also been said, the stuff is particularly bad for older, infrequently run, carbureted engines. But as a car guy, I'm not convinced it's all bad, particularly as cars are increasingly going to smaller turbo charged engines to meet emissions and fuel economy requirements.
Modern turbo engines love [need?] octane and ethanol is a safe/cheap octane booster (at the potential expense of a modest reduction in fuel mileage). My vehicle fleet is currently all twin turbo engined. Every one of my cars perks up with higher ethanol content, even the GL450 and CayenneTT -- so much so, that I occasionally will fill their tanks with 5 gals of E85 and 15 gallons of 93 to make my own ~E25-30 blend -- the extra octane is immediately noticeable as extra grunt.
I also have an 997TT with upsized injectors and an E85 tune. On E85 it picks up an extra 125 hp due to increased boost, advanced timing, and cooler exhaust temps from running the cooler burning ethanol (which is ~100 octane equivalent). It's basically race fuel for $1.85 a gallon, which easily makes up for the reduced mileage. As a car enthusiast, I like that -- A LOT.
On the flip side, running E85 makes your car smell like a moonshine still -- and I'm not sure I like that -- it's an acquired taste [smell?], but many think it stinks. Also, E85 is harder to find than E10/15 -- so you often have to plan your driving to make sure you can find E85 stations to fill up. On a Flex Fuel vehicle, that's not a concern, but on a modified Porsche, I decided it wasn't worth the risk/ hassle and switched back to running 93octane E10. I must be getting old, because I valued safety and convenience over horsepower and bragging rights...
Apparently the ethanol blends also burn cleaner and keep the combustion chambers and valves cleaner. That also keeps knock sensitive, high compression or turbo engines running better. So as more and more modern cars get [smaller] turbo charged engines, having additional ethanol in your gas may actually improve performance and keep them running better.
But I also get that the lack of choice sucks, particularly for owners of older vehicles that don't benefit (or suffer even) from ethanol's properties. It'd be nice if ethanol free gas was still widely available for those that need/want it.
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