Spain Can Teach Us a Lesson

Michele Bachmann | April 09, 2009 12:07 PM

As we plunge into the debate on cap-and-trade here in Washington and around the country, our nation can learn some lessons from Spain which adopted an energy policy that many in the U.S. point to "as a model for how government subsidies can create "green jobs."

A study directed by Dr. Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at Juan Carlos University in Madrid, concluded that every "green job" created in Spain resulted in 2.2 other jobs being destroyed.

The study emphasized that only 10% of the "green jobs" created could be considered permanent - such as maintenance of renewable power systems. The remaining jobs consisted of temporary jobs in construction, fabrication and installation jobs; along with administrative positions, marketing, and engineering projects.

The study also finds that:

"If U.S. subsidies to renewable producers achieve the same result -- and President Obama has held Spain up as a model for how to subsidize renewables -- the U.S. could lose 6.6 million to 11 million jobs while it creates three million largely temporary 'green jobs.'"

Furthermore, Dr. Calzada stated that “the loss of jobs could be greater if you account for the amount of lost industry that moves out of the country due to higher energy prices.”

President Obama and his Congressional allies have stated an August goal for passing cap-and-trade legislation. Our government needs to slow down and think twice about enacting an energy policy that will clearly hurt our already struggling economy and financially impact every single American.

For more information on the study, click here.

To read the study, click here.