Proponents of Cap & Tax legislation have promised their plan would create "green jobs", and as such help the economy. Of course, such claims are without logic or merit, and have been disproven in every instance in which they have been tried.
We previously reported on a study in Spain’s King Juan Carlos University which demonstrated that in Spain, up till that point a model for President Obama, for every "green job" created, 2.2 regular jobs were lost, and only one in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job (President Obama stopped mentioning Spain after this…)
Now, the German think tank Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung has published the first independent report into Green Jobs in germany, entitled Economic impacts from the promotion of renewable energies: The German experience
The result?
"In the end, Germany’s PV [solar energy] promotion has become a subsidization regime that, on a per-worker basis, has reached a level that far exceeds average wages, with per-worker subsidies as high as 175,000 € (US $ 240,000)….Claims about technological innovation benefits of Germany’s first-actor status are unsupportable. In fact, the regime appears to be counterproductive in that respect, stifling innovation by encouraging producers to lock into existing technologies…It is most likely that whatever jobs are created by renewable energy promotion would vanish as soon as government support is terminated, leaving only Germany’s export sector to benefit from the possible continuation of renewables support in other countries such as the US."
Let’s be clear here – In Germany the government subsidy required to produce just one green job can be as high as €175,000, or $US240,000. Far more than the average income, and no doubt causing massive harm on the economy.
The study authors conclude: "Although Germany’s promotion of renewable energies is commonly portrayed in
the media as setting a “shining example in providing a harvest for the world”, we would instead regard the country’s experience as a cautionary tale of massively expensive environmental and energy policy that is devoid of economic
and environmental benefits."
All the data says that this is NOT the way forward. The only question is if Obama-Pelosi-Reid are going to follow the science and data, or if they are going to impose theirradical, ideological, job-killing agenda on the American people.
(H/T Poweline via Straight Shooters)