Krugman Nails Biofuel Boondoggle

It's rare that I find myself on the same side of an issue with the rather Liberal Paul Krugman. However, in his NYT article, Grains Gone Wild, Krugman succinctly highlights the problem with ethanol and other biofuels:

...even on optimistic estimates, producing a gallon of ethanol from corn uses most of the energy the gallon contains. But it turns out that even seemingly “good” biofuel policies, like Brazil’s use of ethanol from sugar cane, accelerate the pace of climate change by promoting deforestation. 

And meanwhile, land used to grow biofuel feedstock is land not available to grow food, so subsidies to biofuels are a major factor in the food crisis. You might put it this way: people are starving in Africa so that American politicians can court votes in farm states.