Yet another example of Government thinking it can better the marketplace

by
Skip

The American marketplace is the amalgam of hundreds of millions of people making multiple decisions on the products they want and at the price they wish to pay.  Inferior and overvalued products and services languish on the shelves – people need to have the sense of obtaining more value for their money than the value of that money.  Suppliers and producers react to that – either producing more, going out of business, or figuring out how to make that product cheaper without compromising value.

And then Government decides it can do better – and California is showing how bad Govt is at creating its own marketplace:

California Voted to Raise Taxes on Corporations to Create ‘Green Jobs.’ Here’s How That’s Working Out Three Years Later

Three years after California voters passed a ballot measure to raise taxes on corporations and generate clean energy jobs by funding energy-efficiency projects in schools, barely one-tenth of the promised jobs have been created, and the state has no comprehensive list to show how much work has been done or how much energy has been saved.

Money is trickling in at a slower-than-anticipated rate, and more than half of the $297 million given to schools so far has gone to consultants and energy auditors. The board created to oversee the project and submit annual progress reports to the Legislature has never met, according to a review by The Associated Press. Voters in 2012 approved the Clean Energy Jobs Act by a large margin, closing a tax loophole for multistate corporations. The Legislature decided to send half the money to fund clean energy projects in schools, promising to generate more than 11,000 jobs each year. Instead, only 1,700 jobs have been created in three years, raising concerns about whether the money is accomplishing what voters were promised.

 

Number of jobs “estimated”?  Over 11,000.  How many actually created?  1,700.  At a cost of $297 Million, that’s $174,000 / job.  This is the way to build an economy.  And all that is happening is that there are “concerns”????

Hey, at least they didn’t try what the Feds did with Obamacare – FORCE people, under penalty of law, to purchase a product from someone many really don’t want to have business with.  But then again, Obamacare has always been about DESTROYING a marketplace and we have seen that happening – small practices selling out to big hospitals and insurance companies are being rolled up one after another.

Why not – Obamacare has a fascist side to it by mimicking what Mussolini did in Italy – don’t own them outright but so regulate them that they become all but an extension of government because the “capture” regime underwhich they are allowed to function.  And then Progressives call THAT “free capitalism” or “the private sector”.  And we are seeing that rollup happening in other areas as well – these incremental Socialist knew that by kicking the healthcare marketplace, they can control all others.

And now you are seeing it in the energy marketplace as well and onerous regulations (and in a lot of cases, unneeded ones – like the new methane regs on fracking released today if you have been following how the private sector has been radically capturing that gas all by their own because of the profit motive – lose less, profit more):

Methane

Yet, back on the government ranch:

The State Energy Commission, which oversees Proposition 39 spending, could not provide any data about completed projects or calculate energy savings because schools are not required to report the results for up to 15 months after completion, spokeswoman Amber Beck said.

Still, she said she believes the program is on track.

On what basis is this thing “on track”?  No data, no results, no deliverables – but by golly, we’re on track!  And look at the “marketplace” – schools.  Yet another entity that is monopolized by Government.  No, not a marketplace at all.

And no, this is not “capitalism” – alas, this is just a bit different, much bigger, version of RGGI here in NH: money taken from the many to give to the few (politically connected and government tied) privileged.

And silly mean, I thought that Progressives hated the Privileged….

….unless they are one in the same…..

Author

  • Skip

    Co-founder of GraniteGrok, my concern is around Individual Liberty and Freedom and how the Government is taking that away. As an evangelical Christian and Conservative with small "L" libertarian leanings, my fight is with Progressives forcing a collectivized, secular humanistic future upon us. As a TEA Party activist, citizen journalist, and pundit!, my goal is to use the New Media to advance the radical notions of America's Founders back into our culture.

Share to...