The Heritage Foundation - Leadership for America

DENVER — We always knew the left loved big government central planning of the economy, but we never knew how much they loved it. Also on Bob Kuttner’s “Take Back America: The Economy” panel here in The Big Tent were United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard and Green for All founder Majora Carter. In addition to Kuttner’s “Apollo scale” investment in alternative energy, Gerard called for a “Marshall plan” for green collar jobs and Carter called for a “Green New Deal.”

The idea that markets can privately order themselves is completely foreign to the left. They honestly believe that massive carbon taxes and energy mandates will create more jobs. The lie at the core of the green-collar myth is that new jobs are being created. There is no new employment, just a transfer of employment from the “non-green” sector to the “green sector” — and often at a net loss of jobs. If regulations force power companies to forgo natural gas for solar power, then sure, the people who manufacture and install the solar panels will have “new” jobs, but those who mined and distributed the natural gas will be out of jobs. And then there are the higher energy costs. Carbon taxes and renewable energy mandates do not create new energy: they simply drive up the price of existing supplies. And higher energy prices means less jobs for everyone.