The end of the ethanol subsidy?

After decades of your tax dollars, or, money borrowed from China, being used to subsidize ethanol, it appears that the subsidy will end on July 31.  The final details are still being negotiated, but, this is what we know so far.

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Ethanol and the price of bacon

Every Saturday in the Wall Street Journal there is a section called “The Weekend Interview”.  Yesterday’s interviewee was C. Larry Pope, CEO of Smithfield Foods, Inc.  The entire article is well worth the time it will take you to read it, particularly to get an understanding of how business works.  But, let me give you…

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More ethanol subsidies

While on the subject of fuel, you might be interested in this news item from the Department of Agriculture.  It seems that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has decided that this country doesn’t have enough gas station pumps that can dispense “gasoline” with an ethanol content higher than 10%.

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Another nonsensical government regulation

Yesterday, the EPA decided, over the objections of most automobile manufacturers, that it would “allow ” a mixture of 15% ethanol in all gasoline sold in the United States for all model year 2001 through 2006 cars.  Last October it did the same for all model year 2007 and later.  By now you know that…

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EPA allows 15% ethanol in “gasoline”

Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its long awaited ruling on the amount of ethanol allowed in “gasoline”.  Currently, the ethanol limit is 10%, but, as of yesterday, that limit has been raised to 15%. How did we get here?  Well, in March, 2009, ethanol producers due to an oversupply of ethanol asked the EPA to raise…

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