Obama claimed in his campaign that he would spend $150b over ten years to move America to “green energy”, and in the process create 5 million jobs. It was a flat out lie. Officials admitted, “it was just to inspire people.” I can’t debate that in the coming century we must find a way to move to cleaner, more plentiful and cheaper energy sources – but, we must learn the lessons of the past and realize that there is no free lunch. When you create “government jobs” you shift employment from the private to public sector. You don’t magically create new jobs. And, by taking more in tax dollars, by raising energy prices and by granting more government subsidies, you displace people from jobs. The question is: How fast can we move in the direction we feel we need to move and not impact the economy too greatly, at a time when the economy is in a recession? We see the effects of overextending ourselves with the Iraq War, we must learn to make progress at a reasonable rate, within our means.

(At the same time, we must increase our investment in research (nuclear, carbon scrubbing, etc.), cut regulations that make nuclear plants take 20 years to build, and tell people the truth about what the government is doing!)

The lie at the core of the green-collar myth is that new jobs are being created. There is no new employment, just a transfer of employment from the “non-green” sector to the “green sector” and often at a net loss of jobs. If regulations force power companies to forgo natural gas for solar power, then sure, the people who manufacture and install the solar panels will have new jobs, but those who mined and distributed the natural gas will be out of jobs. And then there are the higher energy costs. Carbon taxes and renewable energy mandates do not create new energy: they simply drive up the price of existing supplies. And higher energy prices means less jobs for everyone.

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