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We can get by without subsidies as long as it's still a crime to not buy our stuff

June 27, 2011

Paul Neiffer explains why the ethanol industry can get by if the subsidies go away:

Also, the ethanol industry is more mature than when the tax credit subsidy was originally placed into service and ethanol now actually costs about 30 cents cheaper than gas. This difference would be reduce by eliminating the 45 cent per gallon credit, but it would not have a dramatic effect on the industry.

This is especially true due to the mandate to blend 12.6 billion gallons of ethanol into gasoline this year. As long as that mandate remains, ethanol should remain a vibrant industry and the Obama industry stands behind it so far.

It's a sweet deal, unless you are a livestock producer squeezed by high corn prices or somebody in a poor country who is going hungry while the law requires us to burn food.

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