Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Green energy jobs cost too doggone much

Obama administration, stung by the Solyndra scandal, praised the green jobs program, boasting that 17.2 billion dollars spent on green energy has created 3545 jobs.  I take no responsibility for the math but some have answered by calculating that, using the government provided figures, each job cost $4,853,000.  Wow. You could employ several times that many and pay them to dig and fill holes and accomplish more.

I have written before that Obama's love affair with green energy and his stated opposition to coal and oil and gas is dangerous and could cost billions   of dollars and millions of jobs.  "The Hill," trying to make Obama's green goals look better, says 30 billion dollars have gone to green energy and 70,000 permanent jobs have been created.  My math is shaky but I come up with a cost of $428, 570 per job.  A few more programs with similar results and the country will be bankrupt with unemployment even worse than it is now.

The government is too involved in rewarding some actions and penalizing others.  One example, taking taxpayer money to bribe car buyers with 15 thousand dollars to buy the unpopular Volt.  I know that certain programs have a noble purpose, including encouraging home ownership, but I am more convinced that we would be better off if we let the market and the people act without being rewarded or punished for their decisions.

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