In yesterday's New York Times, David Brooks' Op-Ed takes a look at jobs in the green industry. What in years past has been considered a market for growth, it is now just viewed as a disappointment. The Obama administration has been abysmal in keeping those promises made about growing green jobs, and many are angered by it. His approval rating has yet once again hit another low. (According to The Atlantic, his rating is over 50% and not the first time he's been in a slump.) Not a good sign going into the next election. Should we stop looking at this industry as the Great Green Hope? See the excerpt below:
Where the Jobs Aren’t
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: September 5, 2011
"A study by McKinsey suggests that clean energy may produce jobs for highly skilled engineers, but it will not produce many jobs for U.S. manufacturing workers. Gordon Hughes, formerly of the World Bank and now an economist at the University of Edinburgh, surveyed the landscape and concluded: “There are no sound economic arguments to support an assertion that green energy policies will increase the total level of employment in the medium or longer term when we hold macroeconomic conditions constant.”
Many of the most celebrated green tech companies are foundering despite lavish public support. Evergreen Solar, the recipient of tens of millions of dollars in state support, moved its manufacturing facility to China before filing for bankruptcy protection.
The U.S. Department of Energy poured $535 million in loans into Solyndra, a solar panel maker backed by George Kaiser, a major Democratic donor.
The Government Accountability Office discovered that Solyndra had been permitted to bypass required steps in the government loan guarantee process. The Energy Department’s inspector general criticized the department for not maintaining e-mails that discussed how the loan guarantee winners were chosen.
Late last month, Solyndra announced that it was ceasing operations, laying off its 1,100 employees. The Department of Energy placed the wrong bet, potentially losing the taxpayers half-a-billion dollars.
All of this is not to say that the government shouldn’t be doing what it can to promote clean energy. It is to say that the government isn’t very good when it tries to directly create private-sector jobs."
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