The dumb policy making groceries more expensive
The article critiques the policy of blending ethanol into gasoline, arguing it unnecessarily raises grocery prices. It highlights the environmental downsides of biofuels and questions their effectiveness in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The author suggests that stopping the requirement for ethanol blending could help alleviate food price pressures.
- ▪Ethanol blending in gasoline is argued to be an ineffective policy that raises grocery prices.
- ▪Biofuels are criticized for being an expensive way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with significant environmental downsides.
- ▪The requirement for ethanol blending was established due to lobbying from agricultural interests, but its political necessity is now questioned.
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The dumb policy making groceries more expensiveStop making people turn corn into gasolineMatthew YglesiasMay 21, 2026ShareFarm machines harvesting corn. (Photo by James Brey)When I was an intern in Chuck Schumer’s office 25 years ago, I tried to pitch my then-boss on including a line in a speech about how the legislation he was opposing was an effort to crucify mankind upon a cross of corn. The higher-ups, probably wisely, didn’t go for it. But while ethanol isn’t a subject I cover a lot, every time it comes up, I get kind of angry. And last week someone in marketing decided it would be a good idea to send me spam texts about the virtues of E15 and how we ought to legalize E15 year-round on a permanent basis.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Slow Boring (Yglesias).
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