Not since the heady days after Republicans first mandated corn-alcohol into the tanks of innocent Americans have ethanol producers enjoyed such profits.

As the chart above shows, the (congressionally-required) demand for ethanol seems to be profiting not corn farmers these days, but the distillers who squeeze corn into moonshine and then sell it for burning rather than drinking. Somehow, the ethanol lobby uses its current success as an argument to protect the high levels of ethanol the government forces drivers to pump into their cars.