Posted on 09/29/2011 10:18:13 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Acting Commerce Secretary: Despite Failures, ‘U.S. Can’t Afford’ Not to Subsidize Green Tech By Matt Cover September 29, 2011
(CNSNews.com) – Acting Commerce Department Secretary Rebecca Blank said that in a global race for green technology, the United States “can’t afford” not to spend taxpayer money on such projects, and that the price of that spending is an occasional failure. One of those failures was a $535-million federal loan guarantee to the Solyndra company that makes solar panels but which recently filed for bankruptcy.
“The U.S. can’t afford to not be a major winner in this race,” Blank said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. “That necessarily means that there’s going to be some capital investment by the U.S. government. But it is new technology and that means that there is sometimes risks.”
Blank said that because green technology can sometimes be untested, the risk of failure will always be there when government subsidizes green companies.
“Make no mistake, that when you’re in a new innovation race of the sort that we are with every other advanced country in the world you are always out there on the cutting edge,” she said, “and that involves both big returns but sometimes involves some risks [of failure] as well.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Use your money, Toots, not ours.
The market will decide, not a lifetime paid and pensioned unionized bureaucrat who has Al Gore as a High Priest.
Picking “winners” from among “high technology” companies is difficult for professional investors. Does anybody think that government bureaucrats can successfully evaluate technology? I don’t.
I really hate these people. It is so frustrating to watch.
Yep; it it’s to SPEND, SPEND, SPEND, and WASTE, WASTE, WASTE on every hairbrained unicorn fart collector panel production facility that comes down the pike with Democrat Party campaign donations, I suppose it is.
Further illustration as to why we have a mountain of debt to pay back. These ass-clowns have no concept of ROI when spending taxpayer money on these boondoggles.
If the technology REALLY worked, the market would make it successful. Throwing our money at it won’t make it work better.
Remember Europe’s example: they have been controlling their energy sector with high taxes and fees for decades. They are not the green energy paradise they should be if government action was the solution
Problem: It’s not working.
Solution: Do more.
Psstt...there is no "race". The entire green tech "race" is a manufactured market with zero prospects for long term survival. All the money is governmental, and the other big player is a government with a command and control economy.
Can we please do something useful with our money (if we must spend it), like open up the market for domestic fossil fuel drilling and exploration?
I'm confused. Will Rebecca get a real last name to fill in conce she's confirmed? Or is the awful truth that her middle name is Phillenthe?
Most of the technology is not new. Wind and solar power have been around for decades. The large dollars are not supporting basic research. The large dollars are to support commercialization. The government slush funds have become venture capital, crowding out traditional private risk taking without any accountability.
The problem with government subsidies is that the government is incapable of making good decisions, and doing things without massive corruption.
In a perfect world, subsidizing energy isn’t a bad idea, green or otherwise.
We have got to get rid of more than just 0bama....
The current administration has a gambling addiction.
Analogy: Spending your parents’ SS money on Lotto tickets for an opportunity to win the Mega Millions.
It’s like subsidizing wet dreams, hoping the centerfold will show up at your door.
Stuck on stupid.
“the United States “can’t afford” not to spend taxpayer money on such projects, “
This Sec. has just redefined the United States as the friends and cronys of Obama, period.
How long you figure it’ll be before Pelosi’s Brother in Law’s Green Pit goes bankrupt like Solyndra did?
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