Here’s a
back-of-the-envelope calculation on how much the mandate to require ethanol in
motor fuel costs consumers, and benefits farmers. This article notes that in
2000 about 5% of the corn crop went to the production of ethanol, and by 2013,
40% of the corn crop was devoted to ethanol production. The increased demand
for corn resulted in a doubling of the per bushel price of corn.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in 2011
the total value of the corn crop was $63.9 billion, and that there were 400,000
corn farms in the United States. Because the price of corn has doubled due to
the mandate, half of that revenue, or $31.95 billion, is a transfer from
consumers to corn farmers in the form of higher prices. Dividing that
$31.95 billion cost among 319 million Americans, the cost to each American from
the ethanol mandate is just about $100 a year. That includes not only the price
of ethanol, but the higher price of corn in all its other uses......To Read More....
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