Following the precepts of the Obama "jobs" bill, several state senators are proposing to boost employment by stepping up the pace of water and sewer projects, supporting green jobs industries, job training and promoting home ownership. The $1.2 billion plan would use existing funds and a fee on Marcellus drilling.
Let’s take one flaw at a time. First, we do not need special subsidies for green industries. As Obama is proving, such a use of taxpayer money is a gigantic waste. Solar energy is growing on its own. Windmills have been used for almost 40 years now. There is no need to subsidize these efforts. Shovel ready sewer jobs? Not likely. It takes a long time to plan new projects or rehab on major installations. Besides, all such jobs created would be at best short-lived and little more than a payoff to unions who would get all the work because of the prevailing wage law.
More money for job training? What, we do not spend enough on education and training already? And the proposal to promote homeownership is outright ridiculous. Have we learned nothing about the negative consequences of putting people in homes they cannot afford? Interest rates are at the lowest levels ever. If that is not stimulating home buying there is little left for government to do but wait on the market to right itself.
If the senators want to see faster job growth in Pennsylvania, they might want to look at what Wisconsin is doing to rein government unions and they might want to think about repealing prevailing wage rates. Getting government out of the way is a far better jobs program than wasting $1.2 billion trying to boost employment through a sham development scheme. We have seen this movie. Governor Rendell spent a half billion a year attempting to boost the economy. And we got precious little to show for it.