As we have said many times before, we are very much for what is often called “renewable” energy. We like solar, we like wind, we like innovation, we are not fans of pollution. (Who is?) But we are for these things within the context of the marketplace. Clean energy is a valuable thing. The marketplace wants clean energy. But for some the marketplace is not fast enough and that is why they sought to foster so called “green” technologies with money taken from American taxpayers during the early part of the current president’s presidency.

 

In the wake of the 2008 crash and the election of Barack Obama a massive “stimulus” was pushed into the economy. (See how great it did?) And a good part of this “stimulus” was poured into the “green” energy sector.

The theory was that in the wake of the crisis a new energy industry could be fostered which once and for all would put those terrible oil companies on their heals. Or at least that was what was sold to the part of the American public which cared.

I think many honestly did believe that this was the goal, and indeed it probably was the goal, but it quickly devolved into a money grab. Many many people with connections in Washington suddenly wanted a piece of the “green energy” pie which had been baked by the new administration with ingredients paid for by taxpayers. A good number of folks saw a chance “to get in on the ground floor” of this new “green” future. Money was thrown around while most of America suffered in economic depression. The connected took what they could.

People justified this greed (those who needed to justify it anyway) at the expense of the taxpayers by saying to themselves that they were “doing well, while doing good.” A very admirable goal. I certainly subscribe to this idea. However, many of the people involved in the great stimulus rush of 2009 were “doing well” with other people’s money. It wasn’t like they had created something which made lives better which in turn created new jobs in the marketplace. No, they were “doing well” on the front end with a transfer of taxpayer money.

“Doing well, while doing good” in a legitimate sense usually involves investment on the front end of capital, time, sweat, etc. with dividends paid on the back end. To do real “good” you don’t take money from other people and then pat yourself on the back because you are somehow makeing the world “greener.”

Senator Reid was a big part of the “Stimulus Rush.” A vital part. And now that the dollars have settled and people have gained some perspective on what actually happened in the economy in the wake of the Crash, it doesn’t look like the guy was doing much “good” at all.