Let The American People Do What We Do Best
The administration recently announced the employment trend is improving, even though unemployment rose again in December. The rationale this optimism is the trend indicates we are losing jobs at a reduced rate. If you or someone you know is included in the 10 percent who are on the unemployment roles or the additional7.5 percent considered underemployed, this must come as encouraging news. Now, we are going to tackle the jobless problem, the energy problem and the climate change problem — all at once.
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As I understand it, the plan is to offer tax credits of $2.3 billion to US companies involved in the manufacture of green products, things like wind turbines and solar panels. The initial estimate is that the $2.3 billion investment by the government will produce some 17,000 jobs. If my math is correct, each of these new jobs will cost tax payers $135,294. Since the average income of American workers is less than $50,000 and government employees get around $75,000, why is the cost for these green jobs twice that of the combined average of the private and public sectors?
We were told this move was just the beginning and that another $5 billion will be piled on top of the $2.3 billion to ensure more Americans are put back to work. This sounds very similar to the “Cash for Clunkers” promotion last summer when the $1 billion budget was boosted to $3 billion. The clunkers program, as you may know, cost us about $24,000 per car because showroom sales tanked for several months after the program ended. If the $3 billion had not been spent, it is likely that the same overall results would have been realized. However, some gas guzzlers were retired from the road and fuel efficient ones were added, so the green plan received some benefit. But was it worth it?
The stated goal of the green energy program is to double the use of renewable energy over the next 3 years. This sounds good; however, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) renewable energy accounted for just 7 percent of the nation’s fuel supply and wind and solar combined were only 8 percent of this. So doubling the supply won’t do much in terms of reduced US reliance on foreign fuel or contribute significantly to reducing our carbon footprint.
We need to encourage development of alternative fuels; but the government, which does not invent products or create jobs, needs to get out of the way and let the private sector do its part. Although the spending level is questionable, at least this green energy project is not being operated by the government.
Pre-boomers participated in past breakthroughs that helped our country when it was needed. And, while we won’t be involved this time around, we should encourage our political leaders to get out of the way and let the American people do what we do best. It’s these kinds of challenges that the trailing generations must stand up and meet, because we need their contributions.
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