In 2007 congress passed the Green Jobs Act of 2007. In 2009 congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Both Acts were supposed to increase the use of renewable energy and provide so called “Green Jobs”. The Acts were not only supposed to provide more renewable energy but were somehow supposed to stimulate the U.S. economy. I will not argue about the impact of the Acts in providing more renewable energy. The Acts probably did provide more renewable energy. I am going to make the point that “Green Jobs” cannot and will not stimulate the economy.
If the goal of the Acts was simply to reduce carbon emissions and the costs associated with global warming than the Act served a purpose. But one needs to realize that we are putting lower emissions ahead of cheaper energy. This may be a noble goal depending on what your take is on global warming. The benefit would be less emission and less global warming at the expense of more expensive energy. If this was the way the Act would have been presented I would have no problem with the Act. The problem is the Acts were presented as a way to stimulate the United States economy.
If “Green Energy” is so profitable and such a great idea why did congress have to force energy companies into green energy? Congress simply should have been able to give the information to the energy companies and they would have invested their own money in Green Energy. Why would private businesses not want to make more profits? The answer is without government subsidies there is not much profit, if any, in green energy. Green energy advocates would have us believe that greedy business men have been overlooking the profits in green energy for decades. Somehow government bureaucrats know more about what is profitable than the business men who risk their own money and jobs.
The stimulus was supposed to come from government spending in the energy sector. This money does not magically come from the tooth fairy. The money is simply transferred from another sector of the economy. While we may see more “Green Jobs” we will see fewer jobs in other sectors of the economy. If green energy is getting government money that money had to be taxed from somewhere else. That means other areas have less money. So you have no net benefit just a government transfer. If the money is borrowed that means another sector of the economy did not get to borrow that money. If the money is printed that is an increase in the money supply and the value of our money goes down. Any of these scenarios is no net benefit to the economy or in providing jobs.
The jobs that are created will be created only if the jobs are more lucrative than existing jobs. If people leave their existing job no net job is created. The old job needs to be filled by somebody with that job skill. At some point you run out of qualified workers for that job set. Even with unemployment as high as it is you may not have people with right job skills. If “Green Jobs” are taking away employment from other areas of the economy those areas may not be able to find replacements. To attract workers “Green Jobs” may have to pay considerably more than other sectors of the economy. The net impact on the economy may be fewer jobs because of the jobs that are taken away from other sectors of the economy. What happens to these jobs once government money runs out? Jobs that are dependent on government subsidies rather than on the actual market will end once the money runs out. What happens once the renewable energy is created? The workers will be out of a job once the end product is created. The government can only provide “Green Jobs” at the expense to the rest of the economy.
If the goal of the Acts was simply to reduce carbon emissions and the costs associated with global warming than the Act served a purpose. But one needs to realize that we are putting lower emissions ahead of cheaper energy. This may be a noble goal depending on what your take is on global warming. The benefit would be less emission and less global warming at the expense of more expensive energy. If this was the way the Act would have been presented I would have no problem with the Act. The problem is the Acts were presented as a way to stimulate the United States economy.
If “Green Energy” is so profitable and such a great idea why did congress have to force energy companies into green energy? Congress simply should have been able to give the information to the energy companies and they would have invested their own money in Green Energy. Why would private businesses not want to make more profits? The answer is without government subsidies there is not much profit, if any, in green energy. Green energy advocates would have us believe that greedy business men have been overlooking the profits in green energy for decades. Somehow government bureaucrats know more about what is profitable than the business men who risk their own money and jobs.
The stimulus was supposed to come from government spending in the energy sector. This money does not magically come from the tooth fairy. The money is simply transferred from another sector of the economy. While we may see more “Green Jobs” we will see fewer jobs in other sectors of the economy. If green energy is getting government money that money had to be taxed from somewhere else. That means other areas have less money. So you have no net benefit just a government transfer. If the money is borrowed that means another sector of the economy did not get to borrow that money. If the money is printed that is an increase in the money supply and the value of our money goes down. Any of these scenarios is no net benefit to the economy or in providing jobs.
The jobs that are created will be created only if the jobs are more lucrative than existing jobs. If people leave their existing job no net job is created. The old job needs to be filled by somebody with that job skill. At some point you run out of qualified workers for that job set. Even with unemployment as high as it is you may not have people with right job skills. If “Green Jobs” are taking away employment from other areas of the economy those areas may not be able to find replacements. To attract workers “Green Jobs” may have to pay considerably more than other sectors of the economy. The net impact on the economy may be fewer jobs because of the jobs that are taken away from other sectors of the economy. What happens to these jobs once government money runs out? Jobs that are dependent on government subsidies rather than on the actual market will end once the money runs out. What happens once the renewable energy is created? The workers will be out of a job once the end product is created. The government can only provide “Green Jobs” at the expense to the rest of the economy.
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