LA Times opposes ethanol subsidies

The LA Times editorial board has come out against ethanol subsidies:

But there is talk, amazingly enough, about ending the tariff on imported ethanol. President Bush has proposed dropping it, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has joined with two Republicans to introduce legislation to do so. Opening the U.S. market to imports would increase supply and also give domestic ethanol producers a taste of free-market price competition.

With politicians from both the left and right supporting such a sane policy, the problem is the people in the middle — the middle of the country, that is. Representatives of corn-growing states, and the formidable corn lobby, are putting up a fight. And there are signs that the pressure of politics is overcoming the logic of economics. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who initially supported dropping the tariff, switched positions last week. Other Farm Belt representatives need to decide which is more important: the free market or the corn lobby.

Surely this is a sign of the end times...I agree with the LA Times.