Has anyone ever compared what a candidate said during campaigning - literally - with what they are doing once they are elected? If so, I would love to see that. So many jobs are being lost, so many jobs are being promised jobs by spending money the government does not have & we, THE PEOPLE - remember us? - cannot afford!

'Cap & Trade' is slated to increase the cost of energy for EVERY family in America by $3000, even President Obama admits this. Yes. You read that right. $3000. That will be a monthly increase of $250. How will families afford this? Add increases in taxes by allowing federal tax cuts to expire & state increases in taxes & fees, more families will be in dire straits.

The latest report from Spain should put an absolute HALT to the mentality that 'green' jobs can save our country - it has not worked at all for them & will not for us. It has, in fact, created many problems. They have warned us that for every job created by government 'green' programs, at least 2.2 were lost in the private sector & only 1 of 10 'green' jobs is actually long-term.

To quote the report from the Institute for Energy Research : "As this study makes clear, Spain has spent billions in taxpayer resources to subsidize renewable energy programs in an effort to jumpstart its ailing economy – and what they’ve gotten in return are fewer jobs, skyrocketing debt and some of the highest and most regressive energy prices in the developed world."



FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ THE REPORT:

"The following represent some of the study’s key findings:

The U.S. can expect 2.2 jobs to be destroyed for every 1 renewable job financed by the government.

Only 1 in 10 of the jobs actually created through green investment is permanent.

Since 2000, Spain has spent €571,138 ($753,778) to create each “green job,” including subsidies of more than €1 million ($1,319,783) per wind industry job.

Those programs resulted in the destruction of nearly 113,000 jobs elsewhere in the economy.

Each “green” megawatt installed destroyed 5.39 jobs in non-energy sectors of the Spanish economy.

The total over-cost—the amount paid over the cost that would result from buying the electricity generated by the renewable power plants at market prices—between 2000 and 2008 amounts to 7,918.54 million Euros ($10 billion).

The total subsidy spent and committed to these three renewable sources amounts to €28,671 million ($36 billion).

Consumer energy costs in Spain would have to be increased 31 percent to repay the debt generated by the green jobs subsidies.

NOTE: According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Spain’s annual emissions of carbon dioxide have increased by nearly 50 percent since the nation began its aggressive push to subsidize and support “green jobs.”"



The entire report is available for you at http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2009/03/31/running-of-the-bull-us-green-jobs-rhetoric/

To me, the scarest 2 items in this report are: the loss of jobs in the private sector & the increase of emissions of carbon dioxide. Why are we trying to do what Spain has done, when it is NOT working? With data that proves conclusively we are heading in the wrong direction, we need to make a u-turn.

There must be a balancing of 'green' with reality. Drop all discussion & thought of 'Cap & Trade'. We need to drill in our own country, build more refineries, add wind energy where & when it is practical (read: not cost prohibitive), build clean coal plants. All are possible to co-exist without destroying the consumer with the cost or the environment. We need to be realistic in managing our emissions & find a balance that will not simply create more debt.

As more and more people are speaking up, politicians are finding out they just may be accountable for what they said as well as what they have done & are doing. TEA (taxed enough already) Parties should have shown Washington that ordinary people are fed up. But, I am afraid these Senators and Representatives believe they are invincible.

The Grassroots are spreading, growing deeper. DC would be wise to pay attention.

But when have they ever been 'wise'?