Big Agriculture has always made money the old-fashioned way -- it steals it from the taxpayer. No one knows the art of the shakedown better than the corn-based ethanol industry, which evidently has a little yellow phone perched prominently on the U.S. President's desk. When it rings, money flows. If you don't believe that, look how many other commodities played a starring role in George W. Bush's State of the Union speech.

Labels: subsidies