Bragging About Inefficiency
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Economics & the Economy, Energy and the Environment
This is a couple months old, but it’s remarkable enough to be worth the belated mention. In a letter to the President promoting “green technology,” six liberal Senators brag about how inefficient their pet project of solar technology is. No lie.
They say that solar power “creates more jobs per megawatt of energy produced than any other form of energy.” And they consider that a good thing!
Apparently this needs reiterating. Creating jobs is not the goal of economic activity, it’s a byproduct, albeit an important one. Labor, properly understood, is a cost. If jobs were all that mattered we could pay people to dig holes and fill them up again, or outlaw all machines that enhance productivity at the expense of a particular job once done by human labor. Of course, the result would be less overall productivity and a lower standard of living for all.
Hat-tip: Planet Gore on NRO
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.