Green jobs baloney
Tom Maguire takes his scalpel to the nonsensical claim of huge employment available if we go green. More make believe economics:
We hear about "green jobs" from Sunil Sharan, who was "a director of the Smart Grid Initiative at GE from 2008 to 2009" and "has worked in the clean-energy industry for a decade" Incredibly, green jobs may have been hyped and oversold by Team Obama:"Green jobs" have become a central underpinning of the Obama administration's rationale to promote clean energy. But how valid is the assumption that a "clean-energy" economy will generate enough jobs to mitigate today's high level of unemployment -- new jobless claims were up 22,000 this week -- and to meet the needs of future generations? A green economy would have to spout jobs in the millions to do both. The facts challenge the prevailing thinking among some policymakers and officials that green jobs are a principal reason for transforming the economy.
And he doesn't stop there. He rubs it in by reminding his readers that the biggest employment boom in the President's weathrization program was for those determining what the prevailing wage under the Davis-Bacon Act should be for caulking and weatherstripping:
And Mr. Sharan has evidently not taken on board the lesson of the weatherization program - many, many jobs will be created surveying prevailing wage standards for smart meter installers across the country.
In Germany, the green efforts resulted in job losses - just in case facts are relevant .
Clarice Feldman