Ethanol's days are numbered
The worm has turned, the bloom is off the rose… Pick your favorite cliche, but when this shows up on A1 of the Wall Street Journal, you know, to use another cliche, ethanol's days are numbered:
In the span of one growing season, ethanol has gone from panacea to pariah in the eyes of some. The critics, which include industries hurt when the price of corn rises, blame ethanol for pushing up food prices, question its environmental bona fides and dispute how much it really helps reduce the need for oil.
Halleleujah! This boondoggle, enabled by generous government subsidies, is finally being recognized for what it is:
Now the fuel's lobby is pleading with Congress to drastically boost the amount of ethanol that oil refiners must blend into gasoline. But formidable opponents such as the livestock, packaged-food and oil industries also have lawmakers' ears. What once looked like a slam-dunk could now languish in pending energy legislation that might not pass for weeks, if ever.
Of course, readers of Oustanding Investments have known for months that ethanol is a joke. Byron King pointed out the plunging profits on ethanol… and Kevin Kerr predicted after his Midwestern tour in the summer that “The building boom in ethanol plants is likely to go bust by the end of 2007, and the whole industry will probably peak sometime in 2008.”
Check out this special report from Byron and Kevin to learn where the real money's to be made in the energy sector.
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