Green jobs cause loss of real jobs
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Winningreen Issue Alert A040109
Green jobs cause loss of real jobs
By Gretchen Randall
Date: April 1, 2009
Issue: Barack Obama promised to create 5 million new clean energy jobs and his 2010 budget allots $20 billion in tax incentives to expand green energy. He has based his plan partly on Spain’s efforts to create “green” jobs. Now, a newly released study of Spain’s attempt at creating “green” jobs has found that at least 2.2 other jobs were lost for every “green” job created. The study estimates that in the U.S., if Obama follows Spain’s lead, the U.S. will lose 6.6 million to 11 million other jobs.
In addition, the study’s author, Gabriel Calzada, found that Spain’s “expensive and extensive ‘green jobs’ policies . . has created a surprisingly low number of jobs” with only 1 out of 10 being permanent. The study calculated that since 2000 Spain spent about $753,000 to create each Spanish “green job” — costs that are not unique to Spain but “are inherent in schemes to promote renewable energy sources.”
Comment 1: But then, could a president who campaigned on fantasy be expected to govern on reality?
Comment 2: This comes as Interior Secretary Salazar has put a hold on all test leases for plentiful shale oil, the Democratic leadership has introduced job-killing cap-and-trade legislation, the president has announced plans to force GM to build cars that won’t sell, Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein has introduced legislation to prevent development of solar energy in the Mojave Desert and Democrats recently passed a huge public lands bill that will prohibit energy production on federal lands — what do all these things have in common? They are green policies killing real jobs.
Link: Find more on the study at: http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2009/03/31/running-of-the-bull-us-green-jobs-rhetoric/
Contact: Gretchen Randall
Winningreen LLC
Phone: 773-857-5086
e-mail: grandall@winningreen.com