One of President Obama’s silliest lines is that we need to “invest” (read: “subsidize”) in “the energy of the future” (read: “energy sources that are prohibitively expensive and extremely inefficient”) so that China doesn’t beat us to the “clean-energy future.” This is silly because, as of now, this “clean-energy future” is just a future of more government subsidies for politically connected companies that produce products that don’t create value.
Here’s an instructive story from the Left Coast, where solar dreams run wild, Larry Eisenberg wanted to take the Los Angeles Community College District off the grid, powering it instead with subsidized solar panels, geothermal installations, and wind power. Eisenberg failed, and not because of some misstep along the way, but because his whole plan was wrong-headed.
The L.A. Times writers nail it here:
My colleague David Freddoso and I have written about the telling example of Solyndra (Freddoso here, and me here), which used its well-connected lobbyists to get half a billion in government aid before cancelling its IPO, cancelling its planned expansion, and laying off workers.
I’ve also written about the cellulosic ethanol plant in Georgia that got your money through USDA subsidies, Energy Department subsidies and also got state subsidies from Georgia.
