Corn-Fueled Cronyism: The Taxpayer Burden of the Ethanol Industry and Its Carbon Cash Grab

Are the billionaires on the planet trying to re-educate the public on what government assistance is with their own money? Maybe not all of them, however, there is one who is.

Billionaire Bruce Rastetter is citing Pat, an “Open To Work” former ethanol industry employee, as a source of “accurate education” with ethanol subsidies while inaccurately spelling the word “ethonal” and lobbying for E30 mandates and 45Q increases. Source: LinkedIn

Let’s clear the smoke and mirrors.

For nearly half a century, the American taxpayer has been made promises in exchange for funding a grand experiment in energy policy called ethanol. Wrapped in patriotic language and sold as a renewable energy solution, ethanol—primarily derived from corn—has cost taxpayers not only their hard-earned money but their right to a free and fair market.

What started as a temporary energy solution during the oil crises of the 1970s has mutated into a labyrinth of subsidies, mandates, corporate welfare, environmental double-speak, and carbon shell games—all enforced through government muscle and political theater.

Now, the Corn King of Iowa is attempting to change the narrative once again for the ethanol industry and billionaires too. Federal-teat-and-trough-sucker Bruce Rastletter is using his influence and social media audience to claim the ethanol industry doesn’t receive any subsidies and anyone who thinks they do, needs to be re-educated.

Rastletter founded Heartland Pork Enterprises, and started and sold 80% of Hawkeye Energy Holdings, one of the largest US ethanol producers. He started "Summit Agriculture Group", which is in the business of carbon capture and storage for ethanol plants and is currently attempting to build a carbon pipeline across the Upper Midwest. He is also a well known megadonor to the Republican Party and has been called an "Iowa kingmaker".

Bruce you have an impressive resume, but I want to be very clear when I say this next statement - you are being very cavalier with other people’s honest labor and the entitlement you are demonstrating is outright insulting. You are attempting to gaslight the taxpayer with government subsidy semantics and influencer entitlement that outright crosses many lines of decency and ethics. Perhaps even intelligence too.

You want to know the real cost of ethanol? Pull up a chair Bruce, it’s quite the list.

Screenshot of Bruce Rastletter LinkedIn thread.

Subsidy #1: The Ethanol Blender’s Tax Credit (VEETC)

Price Tag: $45 BILLION
From 1978 to 2011, Uncle Sam handed out $0.40 to $0.45 for every gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline. Ostensibly to help “kickstart” the market. It became a long-term crutch. The only thing it stimulated was dependency.

Free Market Translation: If you need 33 years of subsidies to stay competitive, you’re not competing—you’re surviving off the taxpayer.

Subsidy #2: Crop Insurance & Disaster Payments for Corn Farmers

Price Tag: $25 BILLION (insurance) + $15 BILLION (farm payments/disaster relief)
Government-induced corn inflation has turned farmers into ethanol sharecroppers. By incentivizing monoculture and overproduction, Washington created a system where failure is rewarded and risk is socialized.

Free Market Translation: If a crop can't survive without taxpayer-funded weather protection, it's not sustainable—it's subsidized fiction.

Screenshot of Bruce Rastletter LinkedIn thread.

Subsidy #3: USDA & DOE Research, Development, and Refinery Support

Price Tag: $13.5 BILLION
Billions poured into research labs, universities, and biorefineries—often through non-competitive grants, loan guarantees, and cozy political arrangements.

Free Market Translation: Real innovation doesn’t need a government-funded science fair. It needs a consumer, not a congressman.