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With ethanol a political football, ADM's chief executive, Patricia Woertz, and its stock are getting hit. (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_02/b4115034744790.htm)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Bio-Fuels.jpgJoseph Weber – Business Week – Dec. 31, 2009

Ethanol for fuel is feeling the heat.

The market is going to force sense into the... well market. -- Ed.

Even before oil prices collapsed, Patricia A. Woertz had one of the most delicate balancing acts in business. Now things are getting downright precarious.

As chief executive officer of Archer Daniels Midland, the world's largest grain processor, Woertz has watched various parts of her $70 billion-a-year empire gyrate wildly during the past year. Her continued passion for corn-based ethanol angers many corporate customers at a time when enthusiasm for the controversial fuel additive is waning. Ethanol's profitability has eroded as oil has slipped, and social critics complain that it harms the environment and diverts corn supplies, raising food prices...

Woertz, a composed and deliberate leader, occasionally reveals the strain she's under. When skeptical company interns peppered her with questions about ADM's focus on ethanol during a discussion at headquarters in Decatur, Ill., she responded sharply: "We are not just an ethanol company. I'll say that again. Everybody hear that? We are not just an ethanol company."

SAGGING DEMAND

... With the bankruptcy of leading distributor VeraSun Energy (VSE) two months ago, ADM has cemented its dubious position as industry titan. That dominance will probably make Woertz and her 27,000-employee company an even more inviting target for environmental groups and other ethanol opponents in industries ranging from food to oil...

Reaction in Washington is apt to be cool. Political attention is fixated on crises on Wall Street and in Detroit. Obama has said he supports ethanol subsidies in general, but he is more interested in propping up the production of biofuels from sources other than corn. In addition, he favors more research on wind and solar energy… http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_02/b4115034744790.htm

GM must be making a killing on fuel filters with all this corncobs and cornstalks in the filler necks people keep taking pictures of.

The sooner ADM goes under, the better.

Then again, if they do I am sure the gov will bail them out just like they'll do with any other large company.

Let this be a lesson in government subsidies. If the government is paying you to do something, it's probably paying you to do something that no one in their right mind would actually pay you to do.

Hi Jkp1187:
Let this be a lesson in government subsidies. If the government is paying you to do something, it's probably paying you to do something that no one in their right mind would actually pay you to do.
___I have not heard it put that way but 8 out of 10 times, you are probably right :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Let this be a lesson in government subsidies. If the government is paying you to do something, it's probably paying you to do something that no one in their right mind would actually pay you to do.

This reminds me of something my great uncle Chuck used to say many years ago. I can still remember the day:

I'm about 7 years old and it's probably 1975 (plus or minus a year or two). He's sitting sitting there in his living room (where we still have our family reunions) with his pipe and this old illiterate farmer produces one of the most intelligent statements I have ever heard:

"Farm subsidies are one of the dumbest things the government has ever done. Farmers ain't stupid. If they ain't makin' money growin' one thing, they'll grow somethin' else".

Every year we wander around his old farm and marvel at the inventiveness those old farmers had. They found a problem, thought of a solution, and fixed the problem. Every year we find something that was just plain farmer's ingenuity, but they never thought of getting a patent.

His sister did a little better there. She married one of these smart farmers who DID get the patents. And on some things we use every day. Let's try your ball hitch and your motor mounts.

Hi Jkp1187:

___I have not heard it put that way but 8 out of 10 times, you are probably right :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Yeah, minimum 2/3rds of the time. ;)

Let this be a lesson in government subsidies. If the government is paying you to do something, it's probably paying you to do something that no one in their right mind would actually pay you to do.

Government subsidies can be effective in reducing marginal and R&D costs of new technology to bring it on a much more even plane with existing technology. When used to help overcome market inertia for a worthwhile cause, it's worth it. For instance, DARPA and the DOD funded (and still fund) a great amount of research for computer architecture and computer science, both at the university level and to companies such as Intel. A good amount of that work reaches consumer electronics, and we've been able to get amazingly fast multicore processors for very little money.

Once a technology or business model is established, then I agree that it should be able to stand on its own. The problem is that several of these subsidies become part of the business model, as the case is with biofuels as they stand today.

There are many good reasons to discontinue a whole range of subsidies and taxes that are both food and fuel-related.

ADM and Monsanto both need to be bankrupt.