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The Biggest Corporate Welfare Recipients Ever
Townhall.com ^ | December 21, 2021 | Stephen Moore

Posted on 12/21/2021 4:37:31 AM PST by Kaslin

How much do solar, wind and electric vehicle companies get in federal handouts and tax loopholes in resident Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill? Well over $100 billion in taxpayer largesse. If all the tax credits are included, that number could reach half a trillion dollars. No other industry in American history has ever received this lucrative a paycheck.

The folks at the Institute for Energy Research calculated that this is on top of the more than $150 billion in subsidies these industries received from Uncle Sam in the last 30 years.

The umbilical cord to taxpayer wallets never gets cut. Yet, laughably, the left says all these subsidies to "green energy" are necessary for an "infant industry." Really? Does Big Wind or Big Solar ever grow up? Incidentally, our ancestors were using windmills and solar panels during the Middle Ages.

So why do these renewable energies get so much money from Congress, and why do Democrats want to give them the biggest payday in the history of the Washington favor factory? Not because renewable has great promise. Thirty years after the handouts started, wind and solar accounted for less than 8% of our total energy production. It's inconsequential.

If we taxpayers are "investors" in green energy, we'd be wondering where our return is at this point. Wind and solar costs are going down, but not nearly as fast as the cost reductions in natural gas, thanks to the shale revolution.

But now the left is trying to save its latest round of gargantuan welfare checks by arguing that the higher costs of oil and gas at the pump show that these energy sources prove that we can't rely on fossil fuels.

It is reminiscent of the story of the boy who kills his parents and throws himself at the mercy of the court for being an orphan. Oil and gas prices are rising because Biden and the left have declared war on American fossil fuels. They aren't allowing drilling. They instead are passing new "methane" taxes and not building pipelines.

Now liberals shake their fingers at the producers and accuse them of gouging consumers as they assault the added American oil and gas supply that would lower the prices to fill up your tank and heat your home. They are now starting a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in Washington, paid for by taxpayers, telling us that the high gas prices the Biden administration wants mean we have to stop using gas.

The irony of all of this is that the reliance on green energy subsidies is one good reason for so little technological progress in renewable energy. We'd perhaps see more innovation if the industry had to fight on a level playing field.

Democrats in Congress keep doling out the dollars because the green energy industry gives 90% of its contributions to Democrats. It is nothing more than a pay-to-play gambit.

If wind and solar are the low-cost energy sources of the future, why do they need so much government aid? Will they ever take the training wheels off?

After three decades, maybe it is time to admit the obvious: Wind and solar are niche energy sources that will not anytime soon, and probably never, provide anywhere near the energy we need for our $22 trillion industrial economy.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: corpwelfare; economy; joebiden
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1 posted on 12/21/2021 4:37:31 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

When government picks the winners, the American People become the losers.


2 posted on 12/21/2021 4:39:13 AM PST by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: Kaslin

It is a big club for thieves and liars and we are not in it.


3 posted on 12/21/2021 4:42:18 AM PST by Nateman (Racism is Leftist Dog Whistle for 'Resistance to Communism'.)
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To: Kaslin

I have never understood the reasoning for taking a perfectly good roof and poking holes in it to anchor solar panels. When failure happens or hail hits, it will be a costly mess.

As for worn-out windmill blades, I suppose they will make a handy artificial reef somewhere.


4 posted on 12/21/2021 4:44:38 AM PST by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: Kaslin

note that taxpayer ONLY money goes to LOSERS.

the USPTO will not allow REAL CLEAN energy-production
inventions. Never have. and without Pres. Trump, never will.

THEY ARE KEPT AWAY FROM THE PUBLIC
for reasons unclear.
stocks? kickbacks? films of child rape? treason?


5 posted on 12/21/2021 4:47:07 AM PST by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Kaslin

Solyndra


6 posted on 12/21/2021 4:50:15 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Nateman

“It is a big club for thieves and liars and we are not in it.”

Maybe the people aren’t in it, but they sure take our money. It’s no longer a government of the people, for the people, or by the people.


7 posted on 12/21/2021 4:51:08 AM PST by Pete Dovgan
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To: Diogenesis

It’s a mafia style laundry for taxpayer money to greedy democrat politicians and their greedy pals.


8 posted on 12/21/2021 4:54:10 AM PST by Mogger
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To: Kaslin

Solyndra was a piker compared to the purported wealthiest man in the world:

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html


9 posted on 12/21/2021 4:58:51 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: Gaffer
A couple of days ago, there was a snowstorm in the northeast.

Yesterday evening, as I drove across southern Vermont on route 9 it was 18 degrees.

There was no wind, dead calm, as per normal when it's cold.

The rows of windmills on the mountain tops were dead still.

The solar panels on house roofs and in fields were covered with snow, there was cloud cover and the sun was to set soon anyway.

The democrats want everyone to stop heating their houses and businesses with wood, oil and gas and use electricity for heat.

If that happens, a lot of folks are in for tough times.

With zero solar and wind power when it is needed most, good luck.

Drain your water pipes and dump some propylene glycol anti-freeze in your sink and toilet traps.

Bundle up.

10 posted on 12/21/2021 5:03:21 AM PST by Mogger
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To: Mogger
"It’s a mafia style laundry for taxpayer money to greedy democrat politicians and their greedy pals."

It’s a mafia style laundry for taxpayer money to greedy democrat uniparty politicians and their greedy pals.

FIFY

11 posted on 12/21/2021 5:06:32 AM PST by buckalfa (I have forgotten more than I ever knew.)
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To: Pete Dovgan
It’s no longer a government of the people, for the people, or by the people.

It was great while it lasted but it has been a long process of errosion. It has been obvious to me since my High School days , only I just didn't expect the Communist Revolution to happen here during my lifetime. I was hoping some off planet Civilization would have started by now but it looks like we'll just have to fix the problem here before that becomes possible.

12 posted on 12/21/2021 5:09:31 AM PST by Nateman (Racism is Leftist Dog Whistle for 'Resistance to Communism'.)
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To: Mogger

If only those homeowners could heat their homes with the hot air that comes out of the Congress...

Solar and Wind problems aside, when only gas and oil are barely available, ONLY government will have all it says it needs - at the expense of their voters.

Want action on energy that actually means something? Turn off the electricity and heat to the Congress and their offices and chambers and see what happens next.


13 posted on 12/21/2021 5:10:52 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Kaslin

>>Thirty years after the handouts started, wind and solar accounted for less than 8% of our total energy production. It’s inconsequential.

It has been going on for more like 40+ years. There was tons of money thrown at solar during the Carter Administratino.


14 posted on 12/21/2021 5:18:29 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Mogger

I wish I’d bookmarked it, but a couple months ago I saw a German PSA that was basically about how to get by without heat in your freezing apartment. The Green extremism insanity runs deep.


15 posted on 12/21/2021 5:21:18 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Kaslin

Latest Revelation - The core bracing of those big wind turbine blades is made from BALSA Wood. And, they are CLEARCUTTING THE AMAZON RAINFOREST to get it.

You cannot make this stuff up.


16 posted on 12/21/2021 5:34:10 AM PST by MattMusson (Sometimes the wind blows too much)
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To: Mogger; All

Recently I came across a YouTube video about COBALT mining in the Congo in Africa. They showed how men mined in tunnels with no safety precautions. In the same village there was a huge open pit mine run by China. The trucks constantly coming and going. The dust from this mine permeated the air and coated the ground all around the town.

The children/babies of the town had a much higher degree of birth defects. Primarily cleft palates. However, there were also dozens of cases of children born without toes, fingers, thumbs, feet and various other limbs.

The cobalt primarily goes to the manufacturing of electric car batteries. SO, you have children’s lives ruined all in the name of GREEN ENERGY. After watching it, the last thing I wanted to buy was a Tesla. I even felt guilty for the two Stihl battery operated outdoor power tools I own.


17 posted on 12/21/2021 5:55:05 AM PST by woodbutcher1963
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To: Kaslin

So the left is saying we can’t rely on fossil fuels but must endorse “green renewables” instead? Anyone who really follows this & looks at things as they really are knows this is complete crap. The “renewables” are exactly the thing we CANNOT rely on. Indeed they depend on oil & gas to even become useable. It’s too bad we couldn’t take about one week depending solely on the so-called “renewables” for heat & power to see what really works. The wind & solar energy may have some reasonable niche uses, but for supplying the needs of the nation, they are still very far off. They will invariably fail in both cost & availability. Then we could take a little time out & see how things work using only natural resources such as oil & gas & compare the results to the “other”. Of course, we had been doing that already for many years & it’s doing quite well, I might add. For those who say we will run out of oil, there are some resources you can read up on that might explain how that is working out. Maybe it is not what many may think(and worry about).


18 posted on 12/21/2021 6:24:34 AM PST by oldtech
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To: Kaslin

The unconstitutional income tax needs to be removed.


19 posted on 12/21/2021 6:33:00 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: Gaffer
There are a few so called green energy systems that do make sense to me.

The first is geothermal. You drill a well or excavate a underground field near your house. You lay out piping to use the constant temperature of the ground down about 5’ or more to either heat or cool your structure with a heat ex changer.
The general idea is that ground temperature stays about 55 all year round. So, you are using that small temperature difference from 65(the ideal indoor temp) as opposed to the actual temperature outside.

The whole country of Iceland runs on geothermal. The second is passive solar construction and the use of heat sinks. Generally, this concept is to orient the majority of the windows in your house facing south. This way they you gain heat from the sun. A heat sink is large amount of masonry also on the south side of the house to warm up during the day and then slowly radiate that heat gain after the sun goes down. Conversely, in places like AZ you want longer overhangs on the south side of the house tp block the sun during the day in the summer. There are countless passive solar design books on this subject.

The next is heating with supposed GREEN fuels. One of those fuels is wood by products. Wood pellets/bricks etc are all made from the by products of sawmills(sawdust/chips). There are now pellet mills all across the US/Canada and Europe.
If you are in the northern part of the US, there is probably a pellet mill within a couple hundred miles from where your house is. So, the energy product used to heat your home is not being brought on a ship from half way around the world.

There are also wood stoves being made today that are 85% efficient. So, if you are burning firewood cut in your area, maybe even on your own property you are much more green than some liberal in a high rise condo in NYC. The last real green energy source in North America is NATURAL GAS(METHANE). It literally leaks out of the ground in places like NY, PA, WV, OH where it is trapped between layers of shale bedrock. By heating and cooling with an energy source coming from US or Canadian production you are being green because we have the most restrictive environmental regulations in the world. It burns clean. It does not require the extraction from the earth thousands of miles away in third world countries. Burning natural gas in relation to almost all other energy sources LOWERS our carbon output. This has been proven over the last 15 years.

The people who are against the use of natural gas have ulterior motives or they are uneducated. It does not require refining to burn. It is much cleaner than heating oil, propane, or coal. The greenest of ALL energy sources is hydro electric dams. It is also by far the least expensive energy source in the world. Especially in places not effected by drought conditions. The power plants downstream from Niagara Falls are a classic example.

20 posted on 12/21/2021 6:33:54 AM PST by woodbutcher1963
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