Green Jobs

There are two sides to every story. Here’s what Kit Bond says about government incentives for green jobs:

“It sounds really neat to think we’re going to have wind-powered jobs, except I don’t see cars going down the road with propellers on them.”

Bond argues that incentives for these jobs entail a lot of waste. The government provides a huge incentive, and the resulting jobs are few and far between. I’m inclined to agree with him. It’s nothing personal against the environment or job creation. When the state subsidizes any job, you can bet that it doesn’t make sense economically. Private businesses would step up to the plate if it did, without having to be coaxed by incentives.

Bracken Hendricks of the Center for American Progress, who is apparently an expert in PR, puts a positive spin on inefficiency:

“He made it sound like federally funded purchase of jobs when what we’re talking about is smart incentives and public investment in new infrastructure,” Hendricks said.