Charts of the Day

From Minyanville, via Ritholtz, first, Ethanol Distillation Margins:

Then, Ethanol Cost vs. Gasoline:

From the article:

Yet despite all of this, the Senate came dangerously close to ducking an opportunity to taking a stand against a policy that had resulted in 40% of our corn crop going to feed yeast to make a more expensive low-grade motor fuel. Yes, while the distillers’ dried grains sold back by ethanol plants can be used as a livestock feed, only an imbecile should not understand DDG’s have a lower food content than the original corn, and that is before we have to account for the processing and transportation losses.

I've got to agree.  The subsidy is just bad policy.  The high cost of gasoline is just passed into the grain market, causing food inflation, without making a significant dent into oil consumption or oil imports.  It just doesn't work.