Corn Ethanol: Setting Straight a Misguided Attempt to Free the United States from Foreign Oil

I. INTRODUCTION TO AMERICA'S OBSESSION WITH CORN II. THE SCIENCE OF ETHANOL III. HISTORY AND OVERVIEW OF ETHANOL PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL A. U.S. Ethanol Program B. Brazilian Ethanol Program 1. History 2. Lessons Learned from the Brazilian Experience. IV. UNDERSTANDING THE FEDERAL SUBSIDIES IN THEIR VARIOUS FORMS--THE KEY TO MEANINGFUL REFORM A. Federal Support--No Subsidy Left Behind 1. Price Support By Way of the VEETC 2. Feedstock Subsidies--Corn Growers and the Right to Farm 3.Tariffs--The Indirect Subsidy B. The Unintended Consequences of Ethanol 1. Not as "Green" As It Looks: The Environmental Effects of Ethanol 2. Increases in Food Prices: Tolerable in the United States but Potentially Catastrophic for Poor Nations V. ECONOMIC QUAGMIRE: A WAY OUT If they saw dry grains of maize scattered on the ground, they quickly gathered them up, saying "Our Sustenance suffereth, it lieth weeping. If we should not gather it up, it would accuse us before our Lord. It would say, 'O, Our Lord, this vassal picked me up not when I lay scattered upon the ground. Punish him!' Or perhaps we should starve." (1) I. INTRODUCTION TO AMERICA'S OBSESSION WITH CORN