Green Collar Jobs Bust

I've said on this site many times that politicians and environmentalists are full of it when they tout all the "green collar jobs" boom that are going to come with new environmental regulations. The results will end up being the opposite. Bloomberg news has a case study with Spain:

The premiums paid for solar, biomass, wave and wind power - - which are charged to consumers in their bills -- translated into a $774,000 cost for each Spanish “green job” created since 2000, said Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at the university and author of the report.

“The loss of jobs could be greater if you account for the amount of lost industry that moves out of the country due to higher energy prices,” he said in an interview.

Spain’s Acerinox SA, the nation’s largest stainless-steel producer, blamed domestic
energy costs for deciding to expand in South Africa and the U.S., according to the study.

“Microsoft and Google moved their servers up to the Canadian border because they benefited from cheaper energy there,” said the professor of applied environmental economics.

The environmentalists have to be honest with this debate. I would have much more respect for them if they came clean and said, 'we want a cleaner environment, but it's going to cost us.' Instead they say the opposite.

Any layman knows that cheap energy fuels industry.

On a semi-related note: Dennis Miller made a good point on his radio show when he was interviewing Global Warming skeptic Steven Milloy this week. To paraphrase: Al Gore has invested his very life, and self-esteem into this issue. No matter what evidence is given, he simply can't give in because his entire life would crumble.

He's right. The madness will be going on for a long time, because it's more than just an issue to people, their essence of being depends on it. Like a religion. Try to point out inconsistencies in the Bible to religious people? It's pointless. They won't hear it.

US Treasury Bubble Worries Chinese

How strange is it, that a country that is the military enemy of the United States is its biggest creditor?

With the US spending like drunken sailors, the Chinese are starting to wonder if its a safe investment:

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- China, the U.S. government’s largest creditor, is “worried” about its holdings of Treasuries and wants assurances that the investment is safe, Premier Wen Jiabao said.

“We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States,” Wen said at a press briefing in Beijing today. “I request the U.S. to maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets.”

They are being polite now. Wait until the US have to start making excuses, like a college student behind on his rent. This is going to get very ugly.

US Retreating From Nation Building, but Still 'Slogging' Along in Afghanistan

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was subject to a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday and there were some frank admissions on his part.

The buildup must be part of a new strategy that emphasizes expelling terrorists and their allies and avoids overreaching in achieving broader economic and political goals, Gates said.

“Afghanistan is the fourth or fifth poorest country in the world,” Gates said. “If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience or money.”

OK, step one is admitting the problem. Even after almost eight years.

The committee’s senior Republican member, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said the American public “must understand this is a hard, long slog we’re in, in Afghanistan.”

Is that all McCain can say? Doesn't he, more than anybody understand the costs of dithering leadership during a war effort that looks increasingly disorientated?

In Afghanistan, Gates said the highest priority is to train and expand the Afghan army and police, which would give the U.S. an “exit ticket” from the conflict.

Does anybody in their right mind think that the Afghan army and police will successfully take this off US and NATO hands?