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Holy Sh*t

That’s really what green energy religion has become. And now the Wall Street Journal is peddling it:

For instance, the Production Tax Credit, first passed in 1992, has generated massive amounts of new growth in the wind industry, a sector employing 85,000 Americans. But each time Congress allows this credit to expire after a mere two years, investment grinds to a halt, giving our global competitors the advantage in innovation, manufacturing and installation. The Production Tax Credit is set to expire again this year.

Now, anyone, and I mean anyone, who has taken basic economics should have their BS meter going insane. So, what these guys are telling is that after 20 years of subsidies and credits the industry can still not stand on its own? That it will grind to a halt if the subsidies stop? And by the way, I propose a new constitutional amendment: if someone wants to demagogue the income tax deductions and credits that we all get as “tax expenditures” (e.g. the government allowing us to keep some of our money, even if part of a nutty tax system is now considered an expenditure by the intelligentsia) then it should be required that all such items be called tax expenditures. So, what Congress is considering is reducing these brutal and costly tax expenditures by letting the credit expire.

A little earlier in the piece we read this:

Expanding these clean-energy investments is good economics. Several technologies, such as solar power, are already cost-competitive with fossil fuels, even without considering the health and other costs of pollution.

We have a phrase for that too. If it ain’t holy sh*t it is certainly of the escalating stock market variety. I have studied and seen dozens and dozens and dozens of papers on the cost of renewables, and solar ain’t anywhere cost competitive. Wind ain’t. None of it ain’t. And yes, I’m using ain’t on purpose. Seems kinda fitting to me.

OK, rant over, now back to our regularly scheduled boring programming.

Update #1:Yes, I know the State of the Union is being delivered tomorrow. I am NOT going to allow myself to watch it, comment on it, comment on anyone else’s comments on it. Nothing. Nada.

Update #2: I agree with Bret Stephens but even moreso. The Republican party should be embarrassed by what they are fielding. If I cared about the Republicans, I still think I might hope for an Obama victory in the fall anyway – maybe that is their strategy.

7 Responses to “Holy Sh*t”

  1. chuck martel says:

    Everybody knows that without agricultural subsidies there would be no farmers planting corn or cotton, Iowa farm land would be valueless, and there’d be no sugar to put on a bowl of Wheaties. The other industries aren’t any different than agriculture.

  2. Speedmaster says:

    >> “Expanding these clean-energy investments is good economics.”

    In what kind of upside-down intellectual fantasy land must one be living to make a statement like that?!

  3. jb says:

    Good comments WC, Chuck and Speedmaster. In fairness it was not the WSJ per se, but a column they printed by Podesta, a former Clintonista. WC, why don’t you write a letter to WSJ in response? I’ll help if you want some editing.

  4. jb says:

    FYI the other author, besides Podesta, is a principal for something called Farallon Capital Management, LLC. Looks like a hedge fund, whose holdings of course are not transparent….you don’t suppose, …nah we can’t cast aspersion on this fine blog….

  5. Joe says:

    “So, what these guys are telling is that after 20 years of subsidies and credits the industry can still not stand on its own?”

    I’d love to see data which shows the percentage of firms or industries, whom after receiving just 20 months of federal subsidies, can stand on their own.

  6. Michael says:

    “I am NOT going to allow myself to watch it…”
    Ha! Ha! I’m doing the same thing right now! The thought of turning on the TV makes me feel queezy right now (or radio).

  7. Harry says:

    What does it mean to be a Global Leader in producing something? How about being the leading producer of gynko berries? Velvet Elvis tapestries? Yugoslavia used to lead the small underpowered car market, but today GM is challenging the world with the Volt. Every country has its comparative advantage.

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