SultanGris

hes talking strictly at the pump price difference vs mpg difference. Ive noticed while traveling that depending on where you are ethanol is anywhere from 20 cents to 70 cents a gallon cheaper than gas while gas is within 20 cents at all those locations. Must be related to proximity to ethanol plants I would guess.

SultanGris

that statement is mostly untrue. Corn is very profitable with or without ethanol and the subsidies your talking about go to the ethanol plants, not the farmer.

Kaborkian

Some light reading that supports exactly what I stated:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_vs._fuel

http://zfacts.com/p/63.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2122961/


Co-worker of mine's parents are also corn farmers. They are making a ton more money now selling fuel corn at increased sales prices over food corn and using the tax breaks (subsidies) to further pad profits.

transmaster

I have a problem with converting food to fuel.

mlts22

I also have a problem with converting food into fuel. However, if this isn't really the case, I'd rather see domestic corn growers and refiners get the big subsidy bucks than offshore owned oil companies owned by Venezuela or other nations which hate us.

EricTheOracle

I'd rather see my tax dollars put to use paying down our national debt rather than paying interest on monies our nation took out on loan in order to pay subsidies to the ethanol industry.

For the middle class, rather than seeing their tax money used toward funding ethanol subsidies, I'd like to see the monies they pay in taxes that are put toward ethanol subsidies reversed so that those people and families can pay down their debts and improve their quality of life.

Jmfalcon1

I don't have an opinion on it because I don't buy my milk from wal mart and then tell them how to spend that three dollars. The point is that you are buying goods snd services from the government and that money is no longer "your" tax dollar. It's theirs.

Adobe2X

Wow, do I wish we actually had a choice here NOT to buy E85. In Washington state, ALL of our gas --- everywhere, all the time -- is E85. When we did have a choice a few years ago, I'd get 31 to 32 mpg in our car and 26 with E85.
as to the subsidies........you also have to count the increased cost of the food at the grocery store when foods are converted to fuel. I've read articles that say that gallon of E85 fuel -- in real costs -- is worth 4 to 5 times in additional costs:
1. Government printing money and in debt to support the subsidies (plus the interest on the debt).
2. Every car in the US getting worse MPG on E85.
3. Increased cost at the grocery store.
4. The cost of all the lobbyists in D.C. to keep this ridiculous farce foisted on the American public.
5. PRICELESS!

Ford850

Back to the point of E85 producing 30% fewer MPG than gasoline...
The new EPA labels are being introduced right now with all the details on http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/label/index.shtml. They show more details than before, and have differnet labels for the various fuels http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/label...bel-052311.pdf . They also show the gallons used per 1000 miles traveled. The example posted on their site, to be used on vehicles by 2013, shows E85 with 30% fewer miles than regular 87% gasoline.

Ford850

Here's a good tool to figure your cost, and it allows you to adjust your city/highway miles and also your local fuel costs. It's an EPA site so it defaults to showing E85 costing $1.10 less than regular gasoline. Haha, I've never seen it even $0.50 less. But anyway you can use the site, pick your vehicle, adjust it to your driving habits and fuel cost, and then see your costs. It's a very nice site. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byfueltype.htm