Ethanol producers hurt by corn binge.....

Corn prices, prices going through the roof, from $2 a bushel in 2006, corn has risen recently to $5.25 a bushel today, creating a bit of a viscious cycle, hurting corn's biggest new player on the market, ethanol producers. Coupled with high oil prices, the input used to run the tractors, make the fertilizer and transport the finished corn, ethanol producers are experiencing a bit a of a mini-bust. Fortune Magazine reports that even a big boy, like Cargill, has recently scrapped ethanol plants in construction or planning. Overall, the industry has scrapped 50 new ethanol plants slated to be built as Wall Street, as of recently, has gotten cold feet over the trumped up fuel supply alternative. Time we start thinking about alternative fuels that don't require high oil inputs to create the "alternative fuel," like more wind and solar alternatives. Unfortunately Congress is fixated on helping the big corn industry instead with no long term vision apparent or any evidence of the public interest as a priority.