Wind Watch: Can green jobs save the economy?

The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. -F.A. Hayek, The Fatal Conceit

On a family trip to Nicaragua we saw workers digging a multi-mile ditch in preparation for laying communication lines. The workers were using picks and shovels; we saw but a single John Deere backhoe. “Imagine how much more productive these workers would be if they had access to more of Deere¹s machinery,” I commented. “But then many of them would be out of work,” one of my boys responded. I replied, “If the point is to provide maximum employment, why not replace the picks and shovels with spoons?”

I am reminded of this as I read about President Obama’s plans to create five million “green jobs.” They include making houses more energy-efficient, constructing wind-turbines, building greener buildings, and upgrading the electrical grid. But this promise is made without mentioning the cost (i.e., the loss of jobs in other sectors) or considering what else these folks might productively do had they not been lured into the green jobs.

Senate Finance Votes Down Wind Energy Amendments

Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee was unsuccessful Tuesday in extending tax provisions for wind energy policy that he said would encourage greater investment.

YouTube - The Age of Stupid: Trailer February 2009

Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite (In The Name of the Father, Brassed Off) stars as a man living alone in the devasted world of 2055, looking back at archive footage from 2007 and asking: why didnt we stop climate change when we had the chance?