How Obama Could Have Won The Alternative Energy Challenge Rather Than Lose The Alternative Energy Cronyism Game

Recently we talked about how the Obama administration has lost the alternative energy battle. Rather than come up with an overarching national energy strategy, his administration insisted on wasting billions and billions of dollars by showering Democratic political allies and donors with free taxpayer wealth for companies that were either ill-managed, ill-financed, or ill-prepared to deal with the reality of the real marketplace.

As a result of this very tactical, short term, amateurish approach, we as a nation gave away billions of dollars and have gotten nothing in return and will get nothing in return. Most of these tactical steps ended up with bankrupted, out-of-business companies and ventures. Solyndra, Abound, Beacon, Spectra, Evergreen, Fisker, Tesla. The alternative energy road of short term, political thinking is strewn with the wreckage of these companies.

But let's add insult to injury. According to a May 17, 2012 article by Business Week, the U.S. Commerce Department is trying to place tariffs on imported Chinese solar panels, accusing the Chinese of dumping solar panels on our market at far below market values. This supposed tactic was cited as the reason that Solyndra, Abound, and other alternative energy companies went out of business. The pending tariff could be as high as 31%, according to the article.

To most rational and observant people, it appears that China has beaten us to the market dominance position in basic solar panels. They have thrown their taxpayers' money at that industry in their country and now appear to be the top dog in the world manufacturing of solar panels. The Obama administration has proven that giving out millions of dollars to political cronies in this industry cannot compete with the Chinese that are giving away billions of their citizens' money.

Why then does the President continue to insist that he "double down" with our money on failed alternative energy initiatives? When will he figure it out that we have missed the train of market dominance in the solar panel industry? So why not accept these facts and for once, think strategically:

• Strategically, why not accept the cheap solar panels into the country tariff-free in order to make solar energy technology more affordable for homeowners?
• If you cannot expand the domestic solar energy PRODUCTION industry, if homeowners found solar panels much more affordable, courtesy of the Chinese, they would help create more jobs by expanding the solar panel INSTALLER industry and solar panel MAINTENANCE industry. This would certainly make a more positive contribution to our ailing unemployment situation than efforts like Solyndra.
• By adding 30% or so to the cost of the panels via tariffs, the probability of homeowners finding solar energy affordable will decrease dramatically.
• Wouldn't this strategy be consistent with the President's desire to expand the use of alternative energy sources in this country? By imposing this short term thinking of tariffs, that aim of expanding the use of solar energy gets delayed well into the future.
• In a previous post we reported on how an episode of the PBS TV show Nova was able to do a complete solar retrofit a suburban California home for about $60,000. That $60,000 cost was from several years ago so that cost has probably come down dramatically, especially if the Chinese are dumping panels into this market.

Let's do some math:

• Let's assume the cost of solar retrofitting a typical American home is down to $45,000.
• We know from a CBS News report we recently discussed, the Obama administration has already flushed $6.5 billion down the drain via failed alternative energy companies.
• Hypothetically, if the President had used those wasted billions to retrofit American homes with the cheap and below cost China manufactured solar panels, about 140,000 U.S. homes would now be energy independent with a minuscule carbon footprint.
• If we make an uninformed assumption that those 140,000 installations needed a crew of four people to install one solar retrofit, more than a half a million job experiences would have taken place vs. the near total lack of jobs created with the President's failed investments elsewhere.
• As for perspective, this 140,000 solar retrofits would have made almost 12% of all Arizona detached homes energy independent.

Of course, this is all hypothetical since that $6.5 billion is gone. Rather than thinking strategically and realistically (i.e. the Chinese already own this market), the President thought only tactically and politically, getting nothing in return. Only his political allies got a return.

An old saying goes as follows: "When handed lemons, make lemonade." If we cannot compete in the solar manufacturer level vs. the Chinese, why not leverage the low priced panels to build out our solar industry installation and maintenance industries at the cost of the Chinese taxpayer, reducing our carbon footprint in the process? Isn't 12% of Arizona worthwhile?

Obama is trying, and failing, to grow a few lemon tree saplings while the Chinese already own and operate whole lemon orchards. Let it go and make the best of the situation, he makes a very poor lemon tree farmer anyway.

Note: for a detailed plan that addresses the three interlinked issues of energy independence, alternative energy, and global warming, please go to the following United States Of Purple Presidency plan:

http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/02/united-states-of-purple-presidency_09.html

What a wasted opportunity, an opporutniy that cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars and a chance at a large reduction in our carbon footprint, all because 1) the political class in this country continues to think only to their next election and 2) they would not know how think strategically if their lives depended on it.

We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/