A recent article by Debra Saunders on Real Clear Politics pointed out an interesting fact. In President Obama's campaign to pass his now defunct American "Jobs" Act there was something that was noticeably absent from his rhetoric: green jobs. Once the favorite hobby horse of the Left when pretending to craft job creating legislation, it's now nowhere to be seen after the spectacular collapse of Obama's big donor solar company Solyndra.
As Saunders notes, that's probably a good thing. You don't want to remind people that one of your biggest donor's companies received potentially illegally structured loans and lost a half BILLION dollars of taxpayer money in their green scheme.
But the silence on Solyndra-like deals helping boost employment is particularly noticeable here in Colorado where former Governor Bill Ritter made green "jobs" the defining theme of his failed, one-term administration. The New Energy Economy talking points were replayed ad nauseum by any Democrat with a microphone or press release. Suddenly that political propaganda has ceased to exist.
The silence may also have something to do with government reports highlighting how unbelievably bad green subsidies are for job creation. From Saunders' article:
Obama's 2009 $787 billion stimulus package included $500 million for training programs that were supposed to create new green jobs for thousands of middle-class Americans. Last month, however, the Department of Labor's inspector general conducted an audit that found that as of June 30 — with one-third of the funds spent and more than 50,000 participants — only 10 percent of trainees were placed in jobs. And only 1,336 participants, or 2 percent, had held jobs for six months or longer. [Peak emphasis]
The audit reported that grant recipients "expressed concerns that green jobs had not materialized and job placements into subsidized employment had been much less than expected." The inspector general recommended that the Labor Department cut its losses and run — in Washington-speak. The audit advised that the department reassess grants and "obtain an estimate of funds each grantee will realistically spend given the current demand for green job-related skills" so that whatever is left of the remaining $327 million can be put to better use.
Michael Sandoval of Peoples Press Collective reported on a Colorado Department of Labor study on green "jobs" back in August, where he noted the report said that most green jobs in Colorado actually "predate the green economy." Virtually all of the jobs that do exist had nothing to do with Ritter's policies. Though, don't worry, Ritter is employed by the "green economy" at CSU. Pat Stryker always has a check ready for her favorite stooge.
After a Democrat Party-wide effort to pimp green energy government subsidies for their solar company CEO donors and enviro wacko base, the whole campaign is blowing up in their face.
What once appeared to a good chunk of the American people as a reasonable investment in renewable energy, is beginning to show itself for what many conservatives warned it would be from the get-go: a clusterf%^& nightmare of putting the American taxpayer on the hook for companies that couldn't stand on their own.
Hear that pop? That's the Ritter New Energy Economy bubble bursting. The flushing sound? That's Bill Ritter's legacy going down the drain.