Has everyone noticed that we are still discussing the green jobs movement as the future? Why is it after a year we aren't seeing the building blocks of that future taking shape?
This isn't going to a diary about Republicans obstructing the process, or Democrats losing their spines. Instead I want to talk about the concept of Government.
When I was just a baby, Jimmy Carter came into office. After the oil crisis, he took the first steps towards a new energy industry. He committed government dollars to research and development of new energy technologies. Many companies were formed from that effort, and existing energy and technologies companies began tasking their engineers with research.
Then Reagan came in and scrapped government's research. Most of the start ups folded, and existing companies abandoned research.
A quarter of a century later we are talking again about energy. There are two realities that cannot be ignored.
The government cannot achieve a green revolution without the private sector.
The private sector cannot bear the risk of new technologies alone.
Since I was a kid I have heard about a high speed monorail that crossed my home state of PA. At 33 I have witnessed politicians that talked about it retire from office and in some cases pass away. In the 80s western PA was an epicenter of manufacturing, that easily could have made such a project a reality.
Now the majority of skilled machinists and engineers have either retired of moved away. The private sector of the region no longer has the human resources to make such a project a reality.
Despite the struggles of the past couple years, the US still is home to the largest economy in the world. We have more freed capital than any other nation on the planet in our private sector. We have investors willing to take on risk. So why can't we have nice stuff?
I believe the answer goes back to the Carter administration's investment and subsequent dismantling by the Reagan administration. Any member of the private sector that took that endeavor seriously lost money. They lost money because they had an unscrupulous business partner, who promised more than they could deliver. That business partner was the US government.
If we want wind farms, it will take more than an earmark by congress. The federal government must set aside land, and institute mandatory spending in the budget over the next several decades. This can't be a side note buried in a piece of legislation. The government must commit. If this kind of commitment is there, the private sector will begin investing in the technical requirements for wind energy.
It is hard to blame capitalists for doubting government credibility. The threat of the political winds shifting is by no means imagined. If anything it is more often the case.
If we want to create substantial new industries, I believe it will require a public/private partnership. I question whether the bickering in Washington gives the public part of that enough credibility.