Misrepresenting the Green Economy

In Tilting at Green Windmills, George Will shows how the Obama administration is either irrational or dishonest in promoting a “green jobs” initiative as making the US economy stronger.

[Spanish Professor] Calzada says Spain's torrential spending -- no other nation has so aggressively supported production of electricity from renewable sources -- on wind farms and other forms of alternative energy has indeed created jobs. But Calzada's report concludes that they often are temporary and have received $752,000 to $800,000 each in subsidies -- wind industry jobs cost even more, $1.4 million each. And each new job entails the loss of 2.2 other jobs that are either lost or not created in other industries because of the political allocation -- sub-optimum in terms of economic efficiency -- of capital. …Calzada says the creation of jobs in alternative energy has subtracted about 110,000 jobs from elsewhere in Spain's economy.

It would be more accurate and honest to just admit the facts:

Indeed, environmentalists with the courage of their convictions should argue that the point of such investments is to subordinate market rationality to the higher agenda of planetary salvation.

With that, voters and policy makers could better trade off the cost-benefit parameters and determine a balanced and reasonable plan for the environment and economy to coexist.