Congress Continues to Blow Taxpayer Money
This administration and this Congress has repeatedly put policy over people. Despite arguments and evidence to the contrary, they've put all their proverbial eggs in one basket - and that basket: wind energy!
And according to the Wall Street Journal, the industry is getting a big boost in last week's tax law. Their grant program has been extended for another year , costing tax payers $3 billion.
But the thing is, thanks to last year's massive stimulus bill, "clean energy" companies already got more than $30 billion.
But here's the thing: all that money has not made a bit of difference. During the first six months of the year, the number of wind-power installations were cut by more than half compared to 2008 and were down 71% from 2009.
And this year saw the lowest level of electric generating capacity since 2007, producing only 395 megawatts. So, as the wind industry continues to see the big bucks blow in, those in the coal sector are seeing their support from this administration burn up.
But the numbers tell a different story. The paper points out the coal industry has generated nearly three times more to electricity than wind. So coal, which only has about 140,000workers in the U.S., accounts for half of the nation's electric power.
Compare that to wind, which employs 85,000, accounts for 1% of the power. Meaning: They need to employ 25 times more workers to produce a kilowatt of electricity. And wind gets 20 times more in government aid as well.
A study says that comes out to nearly a half a million dollars for one job! And guess what? The industry has already begun lobbying for even more fed money! That's the problem with incentives - people get hooked on them. it doesn't force them to make good business decisions it forces them to depend on money they shouldn't have gotten in the first place.
Government shouldn't be allowed to pick and choose which companies are right for funding-- they should be on the side of the American taxpayer!.
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