[gduke]

This has been a topic that I've been thinking about posting for a long time and not just because it's inferior to the petroleum products that we use in our cars and causes other issues, but because we've been badly misled by the corn growers and politicians.

First, I will not mention the issues that it causes with our cars because most on this board are well aware of them.

Ethanol is a corn bi-product produced in the heartland of our country by our good old corn growers inn order to supply the nation with a cheaper and more reliable source of energy, reducing our dependence on foreign suppliers like OPEC who control the price and supply of crude oil. The product also, keeps "Big Oil" from gouging and manipulating prices.

Unfortunatelly, the product does neither and according to independant studies and takes almost as much energy to produce as it produces and takes even more energy to produce in many other studies(not according to the corn growers research). The product doesn't reduce the consumption of energy or reduce the demand for crude products. Infact, as economies grow(especially China's) and demand more energy, there is less energy available to produce ethanol. This is espacially true when corn is used to produce the product. Sugar, however, thakes fewer steps and less energy to produce ethanol and is a good source. The Brazilians produce much of their energy as a bi-product of sugar cane and producing ethanol from sugar cane is cost effective and reduces the Brazilian demand for crude products. They have an ample supply for not only their needs, but also for export. Unfortunatlly, it competes with the ethanol produced by our corn farmers and inn order to protect them our government put a 54 cent tariff on imported ethanol.

Ethanol is cheaper than gasoline at the pump. The ethanol mix costs 10 cents less at the pump, so it saves us money, buying the mix rather than staight unleaded which the "BIG OIL" companies that manipulate the price and are earning billions each quarter are importing into our country from those Arab coutries in the Middle East that want to kill us. The real truth is that ethanol trades on the Chicago exchange at about $2.20/gal. and unleaded fuel trades at under $1.90 on the New York Merc. We save at the pump, but what about the 30-40 cent difference in price at the exchanges where both commodities trade in the open market. Who pays? We pay. Try asking your local politician to explain that to you.

And that's not the only hidden cost. Ethanol now uses 20% of the corn crop. Has anyone noticed prices going up at other places than the gas station. They are going up at the grocery stores too. The demand for ethanol has caused the price of corn to sore to $4/bushel. everything from meat to soft drinks has gone up in price. Anything that uses corn to produce including the sweeteners in soft drinks costs more and this may only be the beginning. BTW, food prices are a component of the model used to compute the consumer price index.

Let me recap the benifits that I listed above.
1) less depenance on foreign sources (LOL)
2) lower prices at the pump (Right)
3) inflation, higher interest rates, recession
4) the corn farmers will buy more $50,000 pick-ups (Detroit)
5) the golf course in Texas where the poor farmer winters and plays golf
6) the politians who support ethanol who the farmers vote for.

Do some of your own research on ethanol. You'll soon learn the ugly truth and realize like I have that it's a waste of our resources to support a program that wouldn't exist without a pay check from the government. I believe we do need an alternative to crude. But, our tax dollars need to be spent on anther source. Our politians don't care about the costs only votes. And I'm talking about both parties.

Gary