Not really. Those of us who own and operate high power two stroke engines know very well what E10 does to us. And it isn't an opinion that E10 lowers MPGs and power, it is a complete fact. It won't hurt a modern engine but it does steal some power. Not to mention it is just plain stupid. It raises the price of our food and lowers the output of our car, so what the hell is it doing in our fuel pumps?
Maybe you could enlighten me, because I've seen no ill effects in any of my two strokes or marine engines. :read: 99% of the occasions I hear that it's due to owner neglect and poor maintenance.
As far as what it does to automobile engines, you're right and you're wrong. You have to factor in cost per mile of operation. 1mpg loss with cheaper fuel (yes ethanol is subsidized) is better than more expensive, lower quality gasoline with God knows what additives. Ethanol will be with us forever since it's impossible to meet federal motor fuel regulations with any other oxygenating additive readily available. MTBE and the like are not used anymore. As far as losing power, I'm not sure where you get your facts but ALL GM vehicles are rated for higher hp/tq on ethanol-blended fuels up to E85 than they are on "regular" gasoline. We're seeing more engines designed with higher compression to take advantage of ethanol in fuel to regain lost efficiency and improve power.
Fuel-grade ethanol in no way increases the price of food, that's a right-wing talk show talking point that's been proven wrong on numerous occasions. (not starting a political discussion, just stating a fact) The feed corn that's grown isn't fit for human consumption and there have been studies on top of studies showing impermissible difference in arable land being used for growing fuel-grade crops. I think we can all agree the industry shouldn't be subsidized, but that's another matter. The fact is we can either pay our people to grow and manufacture it, or import it from Latin America. Not a tough choice if you ask me. If you want "straight" gasoline with no additives to improve the air we breathe and clean your engine, then go to Mexico, fill up with a tank of Pemex and see how far you make it back before you want to siphon it out. There isn't any walking both sides of the street. We had to phase out tetraethyl because it was poisoning the air and water, and we've had to phase out MTBE and other once plentiful additives because they were poisoning our air and water. Gasoline sold today is light years better than what was available 30 years ago from a performance and environmental viewpoint(once it leaves the tailpipe). Ethanol in gasoline dramatically improves exhaust emissions and is multitudes less toxic for the environment. We can talk all day about better ways of procuring it, but the fact remains it's here to stay.
