My wealthy Southern California customers love all this taxpayer subsidized stuff when they improve their homes, or buy the new PC crowd’s fashionable new car.
The Chinese have a planned state-driven economy, tied to the most efficient manufacturing capabilities and a incredibly low-cost work force. Some time in the past decade, the Chinese decided to focus on the technologies that they saw dominating the future: alternative energy production, high-speed rail, and telecommunications.
They have managed in that time to develop some of the most forward-looking technology in the world. By subsidizing it from the central Treasury (which is flush with cash from their trade imbalances) they have managed to successfully undercut every manufacturer of alternative energy hardware in every country. That’s why Australia went with Chinese solar panels: great bargain at the price. But it destroyed their domestic production and research.
The same thing has happened in this country.
High-speed trains being installed all across Europe and the Pan-Asian rim? Chinese.
Now they have practically cornered all the mine and production facilities for the rare minerals that are a necessity for modern computers, networks, and cellular devices. The Chinese control the copper mines in *Afghanistan,* if you can believe it.
We can scoff at the current viability of solar all we want. But the Chinese believe that there is a future in them for major energy production. They are practicing on the West in order to develop the best products - which they will keep for themselves. It’s probably not smart to think that they don’t have a plan in mind.
In 50 years, when we are still paying top dollar for oil, and drilling with all its attendant environmental problems, the Chinese will be running their country on a wind/solar/nuclear mix. They will be completely self-sufficient energy-wise. And they can use the spent nuclear fuel to make bombs to threaten the rest of the world.
We’ve thrown billions of dollars into a sandpit to fight no more than a few thousand jihadists when this started back in 2001. Terrorists strikes are horrible - but we’ve been so focused on that threat that we’ve ignored the biggest one of all.
The Obama administration is falling down on BOTH fronts, even as they have elevated the DoD budget by more than a third since Bush left office. Does Obama really want us to accept our new Chinese overlords?
fyi
I used to work for a leading solar power company (won’t tell you which one). Begging for government subsidies was an open business strategy, even while they were saying the goal was to make solar affordable in the open market. Meanwhile the top brass were making money hand over fist. Made me ill listening to the quarterly financial calls.