August 24, 2011

Debunking Obamas Myths: Obamas Green Economy

Obamas Fabled Green Energy Economy Has Failed To Rescue The Unemployed
President Obama: And I'll Invest $150 Billion Over The Next Decade In Affordable, Renewable Sources Of Energy -- Wind Power, And Solar Power , And The Next Generation Of Biofuels -- An Investment That Will Lead To New Industries And 5 Million New Jobs That Pay Well And Can't Be Outsourced. (Sen. Barack Obama, Acceptance Speech Remarks At The Democratic National
Convention, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

OBAMA TOUTED GREEN JOBS, BUT WHERE ARE THE GREEN JOBS?
The Green Economy Is Not Proving To Be The Job-Creation Engine That Many Politicians Envisioned. In the Bay Area as in much of the country, the green economy is not proving to be the jobcreation engine that many politicians envisioned. President Obama once pledged to create five million green jobs over 10 years. Gov. Jerry Brown promised 500,000 clean-technology jobs statewide by the end of the decade. But the results so far suggest such numbers are a pipe dream. (Aaron Glantz, Number Of Green Jobs Fails To Live Up
To Promises, The New York Times, 8/18/11)

Federal And State Efforts To Stimulate Creation Of Green Jobs Have Largely Failed. Federal and state efforts to stimulate creation of green jobs have largely failed, government records show. Two years after it was awarded $186 million in federal stimulus money to weatherize drafty homes, California has spent only a little over half that sum and has so far created the equivalent of just 538 full-time jobs in the last quarter, according to the State Department of Community Services and Development. (Aaron Glantz, Number
Of Green Jobs Fails To Live Up To Promises, The New York Times, 8/18/11)

Job Training Programs Intended For The Clean Economy Have Also Failed To Generate Big Numbers. Job training programs intended for the clean economy have also failed to generate big numbers. The Economic Development Department in California reports that $59 million in state, federal and private money dedicated to green jobs training and apprenticeship has led to only 719 job placements the equivalent of an $82,000 subsidy for each one. (Aaron Glantz, Number Of Green Jobs Fails To
Live Up To Promises, The New York Times, 8/18/11)

At This Rate, The Greening Of The Economy Equates To Just 17 Jobs Per $1 Million Spent. If you took the governments stimulus program on green activities, you get 17 jobs more or less per $1 million of expenditure, said economist Robert Pollin of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whom the

Commerce Department hired to run the numbers. (Ari Shapiro, Is Obamas Bet On Green Jobs Risky?, National Public Radio, 6/13/11)

DESPITE BILLIONS IN SUBSIDIES, OBAMAS VISION FOR A GREEN ECONOMY IS PILING UP FAILURES
Solyndra Inc., A Company Obama Touted As An Example Of A Green Energy Future Will Eliminate 155 To 175 Jobs In Fremont. Solyndra Inc., the high-flying solar panel maker once touted by President Barack Obama as a model for a green energy future, said Wednesday it has scuttled its factory expansion in Fremont, a move that will stop the company's plans to hire 1,000 workers. Solyndra said it will also close an existing factory in the East Bay. That will leave the company with one Fremont factory, a new plant visible from Interstate 880. The moves mean that instead of having 2,000 workers in Fremont, Solyndra will cap its work force at 1,000, which is about the current level. Solyndra also will, over the next several weeks, eliminate 155 to 175 jobs in Fremont. (David Louie, Fremont Solar Panel Maker Solyndra Scales Back Expansion Plans, The Oakland Tribune,
11/4/10)

Solyndra Was The Epitome Of What The Government Envisioned To Be Our Green Tech Future Confidence Was So High That Solyndra Got A $535 Million Stimulus Program Loan To Build A New Factory Along I-880 In Fremont. (David Louie, Fremont Solar Panel Maker Solyndra Scales Back Expansion
Plans, The Oakland Tribune, 11/4/10)

In A Stunning Reversal, The Frequently Lauded And Taxpayer-Funded SpectraWatt Inc. Has Told The State It Will Close Its Solar Cell Plant Starting In March And Lay Off 117 Workers. (Craig Wolf, Solar Cell
Maker SpectraWatt Plans Shutdown, The Poughkeepsie Journal, 12/22/10)

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis Touted Green Jobs In A News Conference Held At SpectraWatt. President Obama and I understand and believe that the first thing we have to do to turn the economy around is provide American families with good jobs, said Sec. Solis. That is why we are committed to investing in greening our economy. Green jobs pay 10-20 percent more and will be home-grown and not outsourced. (Craig Wolf, Labor Secretary Hails SpectraWatt Green Jobs, The Poughkeepsie Journal, 3/31/10)

Obamas $2.4 Billion Investment In Electric Car Batteries Is An Enormous Bet On A Product That Has Yet To Gain Broad Commercial Success. But the administration's $2.4 billion investment in the development of batteries and other electric-car technology in the United States is an enormous bet on a product that has yet to gain broad commercial success. Major manufacturers have yet to sell electric cars in the United States. Hybrids, though they have been around for a decade, represent less than 1 percent of the nation's roughly 250 million-vehicle fleet. (Anne E. Kornblut And Peter Whoriskey, Obama Pours Energy Into Electric-Car Batteries, But
Will It Jump-Start Industry? The Washington Post,7/16/10)

GM Only Sold 125 Electric Chevy Volts In July, Not Exactly Inspiring. The latest sales figures for Chevrolets Volt electric vehicle arent exactly inspiring. As Jonathan Last put it on the Weekly Standards blog: The July sales numbers are out and the Chevy Volt continues to electrify (get it?) the country. GM sold 125 Volts last month! (Tom Bemis, Chevy Volts Arent Selling Like Ipads, Market Watchs The Tell,
8/3/11)

Cheaper Cars That Dont Get Tax Benefits Are Selling Better. Volts list for around $40,000, but that can drop to the low $30s when a $7,500 tax credit is taken into account. Its that tax subsidy that really raises the ire of free-marketers. After all, cheaper cars that dont get tax benefits are selling better, even at GM. (Tom Bemis, Chevy Volts Arent Selling Like Ipads, Market Watchs The Tell, 8/3/11)

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn Announced The City Had Won A Coveted $20 Million Federal Grant To Invest In Weatherization. McGinn Had Joined Vice President Joe Biden In The White House To Make It. It Came On The Eve Of Earth Day. It Had Heady Goals: Creating 2,000 Living-Wage Jobs In Seattle And Retrofitting 2,000 Homes In Poorer Neighborhoods. (Vanessa Ho, Seattles Green Jobs Program A Bust, The
Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 8/15/11)

So Far, The Program Has Been A Bust With Only Three Homes Having Been Retrofitted And Just 14 Jobs Created. But more than a year later, Seattles numbers are lackluster. As of last week,

only three homes had been retrofitted and just 14 new jobs have emerged from the program. Many of the jobs are administrative, and not the entry-level pathways once dreamed of for low-income workers. Some people wonder if the original goals are now achievable. (Vanessa Ho, Seattles Green Jobs
Program A Bust, The Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 8/15/11)

OBAMAS CLEAN ENERGY PLAN HAD BEEN MET WITH BROAD SKEPTICISM
Industry Officials Question Whether Or Not Obamas Grand Plans For A Green Nation Are Realistic. President Obama has grand plans for a green nation 1 million electric vehicles on the road within four years and clean power sources providing 80% of the nation's energy by 2035. But a day after getting a surprisingly extensive shout-out in Obama's State of the Union address he sees clean tech as the country's best chance to seize its Sputnik moment industry officials were less than enthused and questioned whether the ambitious targets were even attainable. (Tiffany Hsu, Obamas Clean-Energy Goals Have Industry Questioning
Feasibility, Los Angeles Times, 1/27/11)

Clean-Tech Companies Are Still Recovering From The Recession And Facing Stiff Competition From China. The guarded reaction to Obama's speech comes as many clean-tech companies are struggling to recover from the recession and at the same time are facing aggressive competition from China. Many fear Obama's long range objectives will be distracting and take the focus off crucial, short-term projects. (Tiffany Hsu, Obamas Clean-Energy Goals Have Industry Questioning Feasibility, Los Angeles Times, 1/27/11)

Even Obama's Democratic Allies Say The Investment In A Clean-Energy Future Is Unlikely To Provide A Lot Of Relief To The Unemployed.(Michael D. Shear And Steven Mufson, "Obama Sticks With Clean-Energy Goals," The
Washington Post, 7/13/10)

Spending On Green Jobs Has More to Do With The Liberal Agenda Than Creating Jobs. "'There are good reasons to create green jobs, but they have more to do with green than with jobs,' said Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economics professor and former Federal Reserve vice chairman. 'There is no reason on Earth to think that spending money on green jobs is more effective than spending on other things.'" (Michael D. Shear And Steven Mufson, "Obama Sticks With Clean-Energy Goals," The Washington Post,
7/13/10)

Obamas Environmental Agenda Is In Tatters And Green Jobs Have Not Brought Down Unemployment. Obamas environmental agenda is in tatters. His green jobs plan has done little to make a dent in unemployment, which persists at close to 10 percent. Obamas signature environmental initiative, cap-and-trade, died in the Senate in July. And, during the first year of Obamas tenure, China massively outspent the United States on clean-energy technology. (Michael Shellenberger, Cap And Charade The Green Jobs Myth, The New
Republic, 10/14/10)

Obamas Green Strategy Was Flawed From The Start. In truth, the presidents strategy was flawed from the start. Cap-and-trade would not have birthed a domestic clean-energy economy indeed, it wasnt designed to. Meanwhile, the administrations green stimulus spending was split between short-term, if worthy, investments in green technology, to which far too little money was allocated, and overhyped public-works projects that would never have delivered the new industrial economy Obama promised as a candidate. (Michael Shellenberger, Cap And Charade The Green Jobs Myth, The New Republic,
10/14/10)