Trendy Ethanol Making It Costlier For Americans To Fill Up

America's cornlust is quickly growing insatiable, as we wantonly butcher and process this noble resource into everything from Jiffy Pop to old-timey pipes to gasoline additives (not to mention coked up race tracks).  Now, the American consumer is beginning to bear the brunt of our national corn addiction.

Annelena Lobb explains why your next trip to the drive-through window might cost you a little more:

Fast-food ingredients are getting pricier. The culprit, for the most part, is ethanol: As the ethanol boom increases demand for corn, prices for other corn-based products — including animal feed — also gain. The buck gets passed along in prices for animal products like chicken, beef, and cheese.

Cheese prices recently soared to levels not seen since 2004, reaching $2 a pound on average as of June 14 — a 65% increase over the same period last year, wrote Wachovia analyst Jeff Omohundro. That’s bad news for Yum! Brands, the owner of Pizza Hut. Mr. Omohundro lowered his fiscal 2007 earnings estimate on Yum to $3.23 from $3.26 on higher expected food costs.

Of course here in New York, we're not allowed to east fast food, but this must be a real drag out in the uncivilized badlands where people are forced to determine their own diets.  Animals.