To: elmatador who wrote (303718 ) 1/22/2011 1:27:51 PM From: joseffy Respond to 'Green jobs' flee the Bay Staterep-am.com knew they could count on Massachusetts' liberal, green-energy-loving political establishment to keep them flush with cash. Then, when they had made sure their breakthrough "string-ribbon" technology worked, they looked to China for the cheap labor, energy, taxes and land costs, as well as soft environmental regulations, they needed to produce solar cells profitably. green energy is operating at such minuscule margins, those in the industry must lean on government relentlessly and without remorse for baseline funding, then resettle to China or a Third World venue to manufacture their innovations. It is not right or wrong; it's the reality of the business. (Gov. Deval) Patrick has advertised the illusion that governments can nurture new companies, even whole new industries, with targeted taxpayer 'investments.' This is the entire premise of the 'clean energy' industry, most of which wouldn't exist without subsidies because it can't compete on a market basis." "It was always a mistake," he wrote, "to think that clean energy was going to be a jobs bonanza." He believes public investment in innovations like string-ribbon technology is wise even if it fails to create many jobs: "Massachusetts' edge lies in ideas, not products. ... The only production that really needs to occur in Greater Boston is the early-stage manufacturing that can be an important part of the research process. Mature companies, like Evergreen Solar, naturally move their factories to lower-cost areas." Doesn't that sound a little like Pratt & Whitney? The "green-jobs" rhetoric was never more than a bait-and-switch scheme by politicians out to establish street cred among environmentalists while subsidizing elements of the business community — which could be counted on to send some of it back in the form of laundered campaign contributions. . This is no less true in Connecticut than it is in Massachusetts.
