Gimme, gimme, gimme.... More, more, more!!!!!

The season of gift-giving typically ends on December 26, but thanks to TARP, the long line of corprate supplicants looking for government bailouts continues to form and soon will snake around the corner of 15th and Pennsylvania in Washington, D.C., making it President Obama's problem.

What started wtih GSE's like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac quickly ballooned into a Wall Street lifeline, followed by automakers. Now homebuilders and retailers want in and, proving that no industry is too shameless to come hat-in-hand looking for a piece of the bailout pie, I give you... the ethanol industry.

Ethanol, which is an economic non-starter even in the best of times has been hurt by falling oil prices. Typically, expensive oil, coupled with massive government ethanol subsidies, give ethanol a seat at the energy table. But now, with oil prices falling, EtOH is S.O.L.

So-- with a straight face-- the industry is asking for $1 billion in short term credit and another $50 billion in loan guarantees. Even the environmental groups are balking. Unbelievable. Bah humbug.

An Ethanol Bailout? [Wall Street Journal]