[sailaway21]

Uhh, Val?
Defense spending get's us something we cannot get elsewhere. Ethanol on the other hand is merely the current popular alternative to drilling oil wells. And oil, unlike equipment for defense, is something we have an abundance of.

The waste within the mortgage industry is waste incurred by private industry and is the same as that of any ill-advised business decision. It does start to get my attention when my tax dollars are expected to bail out those of poor judgement. Government involvement in ethanol means that there will be a continual drain on my tax dollars to subsidize something that private industry had already determined was not cost effective. Thus a bad idea becomes pork barrell spending, similar to the billions invested in the 1970's on synthetic fuels by our government. Oil company involvement with ethanol is no more non-sensical than their previous non-involvement. If the government wants to ensure a profit for an operation where there was none before, why not take the money and look good doing it. As a businessman I'd be naive to think my business purpose was merely oil; it's always what ever will make a profit. All else is superflous.