WASHINGTON — Driving across the Midwest a few days ago, I was heartsick to see what the worst drought in half a century has done to once-gorgeous corn fields. In county after county, crops are withered, stunted and pathetic.

The ramifications for a nation struggling to avoid falling back into recession will be devastating.

And, as usual, politics is gumming up the works

It is astounding how many products contain corn, from animal feed to wallpaper paste. Thus, higher corn prices will be passed on to consumers in thousands of items and drive up food prices from milk to meat. Such increases, like gas price hikes, are so obvious that they are particularly galling