Another ethanol casualty

Here's another casualty of the ethanol ripoff, even if the word "ethanol" makes no appearance in this Wall Street Journal article:

Dean Foods Co. said record dairy prices are forcing it to slash guidance and trim its work force to deal with what it called an "extreme commodity environment"…

The company plans to eliminate 600 to 700 jobs, between 2% and 3% of its 26,000-strong work force. The company said it plans to record a third-quarter charge on the restructuring.

"This is by far the most difficult operating environment in the history of the company," Chairman and Chief Executive Gregg Engles said in a prepared statement. "2007 results have been well short of our expectations."

Dean said it's in a vice between dairy producers demanding higher compensation and consumers who have cut consumption in response to higher retail prices.

That vise could just as easily be described as the "ethanol squeeze."  Dairy producers are demanding higher compensation because ethanol has driven up the price of their feed corn… and consumers are cutting consumption in part because ethanol has driven up the price of all corn-driven foodstuffs.  What a swindle.

The Daily Reckoning