The Volt...

Very funny video...I do smell something?

Chevy Volt - Building a Better Tomorrow from Ben Howe on Vimeo.

Green Jobs, The Policy Utopia

The fact that B Hussein keeps talking about a $150B strategic investment in green energy that will create 5 million new jobs is ridiculous. First off all, that represents over $30,000 for each "created" job. That is money taken from taxpayers that is no longer available for private sector investment. If B Hussein is going to "give" $150B out in the form of grants, that means the government will have to confiscate even more money since the cost of government is not free. So is this new Green Bureaucracy going to cost another couple billion to operate? After all, it is strategic investment meaning that is will require some thought.

So the next question is who will decide who gets these grants? Al Gore perhaps? There will be a gold rush reaction to this hand out with everyone with a inkling of a green idea seeking the "free" money. We tried this before with Carter's synthetic fuel initiative. What did we get, nothing. What did it cost, billions.

Let's assume some of these projects do not pan out or work. I doubt these projects will be 100% successful. So who is going to decide to cut-off these dysfunctional projects? Will it be the same bureaucrats that decided to fund them in the first place? Or will the Green Initiative just keep throwing more money at these worthless projects?

B Hussein's initiative is utterly preposterous. Only the market can effectively allocate funds. Venture capitalists and investors take risk based on the potential pay off in future profits. When those profits prove illusive, they stop funding these investments. They also more carefully scrutinize these investments before investing a dime. Therefore, only the best projects get funding.

Government cannot replicated the venture capitalist. There is no profit incentive or loss penalty for poor decisions in government. You can bet this will be a hugely unsuccessful program.

Stossel writes a great piece this week in Townhall.com.

Buy Local?

It seems there has been a lot of press on the merits (the green kind) of eating food that is grown locally. When I first heard this I thought it seemed a little suspicious. After all, what are you suppose to eat in Kansas from October through March/April? I guess Atkins is a possibility with an all pork, beef and chicken diet. Now I like meat as much as any one, but I do need a little fruit and veggie now and then. Kansas has it good I suppose, what are the Canadians suppose to do?

Turns out that the majority of greenhouse gases caused by food does NOT come from transportation of food (11%), but rather in production (83%). This is all from a report you can read here. So go ahead and enjoy your bananas, Chilean veggies, and other winter foods from down south when it is snowing outside.