Back when I used to write about something other than sports, I explored the ethanol scam in a two part piece titled, "The Great Corn Con." A quick recap: ethanol mandates for fuel blending would not help the US towards its goal of energy sustainability, but might help a few brown people starve to death. As Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford proved, even the largest con games eventually collapse under their own weight. As ethanol fails to deliver on its promises, this game, too, is coming to an end.

Last week saw the release of a report on the state of the industry by a Houston-based energy analyst  (what what Houston) with a glorious title: "Corn Ethanol's Slow-Motion Train Wreck." Why, if I was able to determine in about 30-minutes worth of writing, that corn ethanol was destined to be a failed energy policy, did it plow ahead unabated?

Notwithstanding all the controversies surrounding ethanol in recent years - its impact on global food prices, to name just one - Washington continues to provide Midwestern farmers (many of whom live, amazingly enough, in electoral swing states) with lots of goodies. The three big ones are the blenders' tax credit, the ethanol import tariff (helping keep out Brazilian sugar ethanol), and most importantly, a guaranteed floor for demand via the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Originally enacted in 2005, the RFA was upsized in the December 2007 energy bill by a Democratic Congress and a Republican president - showing that if there is one thing the parties can agree on, it's pandering to farmers. [emphasis added]