An analyst years ago extolled the virtues of an exciting new industry in California, providing thousands of jobs to mostly younger women with middling educations.
The industry generated tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue and salaries and commercial rent and just about anything you might want from a new, emerging field.
And what was this new commercial adventure? From what hi-tech incubator did it emerge; from the garage of which crazed young nerd genius did this transcendent idea emerge?
Nail salons. Yes, once the entrepreneurial types sensed that tens of thousands of young girls and fashionable women wanted cool, decorated nails – and they weren’t too inclined to do it to themselves – the nail salon industry gained momentum with astonishing speed and success, especially in trend-nutty California.
What if, the public policy gurus speculated, the economic development bureaucracy in California had put forth a plan to “invest” tens of millions of dollars in an exciting new industry that would eventually employ thousands of state residents? The Nail Salon Initiative? It would have been laughed out of the Board Room, of course.
And that gets to the heart of what is so frustrating and murky and questionable about government economic development “investment” in favored industries.
First, of course, government might simply not be very good at picking winners – quite aside from the philosophical question of whether government should be empowered in the first place to pick winners and losers in the race for fame and fortune. And, of course, many successful businesses offer up sufficient allure to win private investment, with no government involvement at all.
Next, is the primary objective to select favored investments from a list of saintly industries, of industries that make the angels weep with joy? Or is the objective of the “investment” a money-grubbing financial return that would also spread wealth through the state blessed with success, even if you’re investing in a chain of pole-dancing clubs?
These questions come to mind in Massachusetts, after Evergreen Solar (dubbed by the Boston Globe as “Deval Patrick’s favorite energy company”), grateful recipient of $40 million in state subsidy, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Tug-Of-War
Across the state and across the nation, the “clean energy” pseudo-investments – based on little more than hoping for a free pass through Heaven’s Gate – continue to unravel.
California-based Solyndra and its solar panels, which President Obama described as the “future” of clean energy, is in bankruptcy, as well, while the FBI reportedly sniffs around looking for $500 million in loan guarantees.
As Mitt Romney joked in one of the Presidential debates, instead of talking about “green” jobs, why don’t we talk about “real” jobs?
One of the answers to the Romney mock is that green jobs make for good press conferences and allow politicians to invest someone else’s money in something that will produce good vibes – whether or not it is, at the end of the day, viable.
One of the other quirks in the green-energy investment scam game is the explanation that came from Evergreen and others on the receiving end of government largesse: The Chinese do it so much cheaper; we just can’t compete.
While ordinarily this would be greeted with calls for “action” and yet another Obama “stimulus” of one kind or another, ponder the implications of the “Green Revolution.” If the guitar-strumming folk singers are correct, and we are three or four days away from seeing the Earth burn up or drown or something awful; and if the Chinese are really faster and cheaper than we are at creating a magical cure; why not step away, go back to digging coal mines, and wish them well with their new adventure?
This is not just another competitive tug-of-war we’re talking about; this is the solution to cataclysm. What could be more gratifying than to see roughly 10 trillion discount solar panels shipped over here and peddled to a market that may or may not actually exist?
Newspaper columnists? Buy American, buy local. Clean energy? If there’s a market at all, let the Chinese save the world at a discount. We’ll have prettier fingernails.
