- JANUARY 22, 2011
Renewable energy’s state capitalists.
- One of the least edifying spectacles in American business is the sight of industry titans begging politicians for alms. We therefore direct your attention to today’s nearby letter from Rhone Resch, the solar industry’s man in Washington, for a classic of the genre.
Mr. Resch more or less avoids our previous editorial point that the closure of Evergreen Solar’s Massachusetts plant will cost Bay State taxpayers upwards of $50 million in fruitless subsidies. Instead, he pivots to make as raw a plea as you’ll find for more taxpayer cash from Washington.
The reason? Well, China subsidizes its solar companies, so America should too. Mr. Resch overlooks that the U.S. already subsidizes solar power to the tune of $24.34 a megawatt hour, according to an Energy Information Administration study based on 2007 data. That compares with subsidies of $23.37 that year for wind, 44 cents for coal, 25 cents for natural gas and $1.59 for nuclear power. We’d expect the subsidy gap would be even greater today between solar and wind power and other energy sources.
Beyond the taxpayer cost, Mr. Resch and his industry special-pleaders appear to want the U.S. to emulate the Chinese model of state-supported capitalism. So if the Chinese want to allocate capital to politically well-connected industries at the expense of the larger economy and citizenry, then we should punish Americans too.
Capitalism is supposed to be about risk-taking and bearing the consequences, win or lose. Lobbyists like Mr. Resch—and his industry bosses—give capitalists a bad name.
