Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 27, 2011

12

LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

 Mountain Views News Saturday, August 27, 2011

HOWARD Hays As I See It

GREEN, GREEN GRASS 
OF JOBLESSNESS

 There are 25 million Americans unemployed, 
and we’ve lost 900,000 full time jobs just in the 
last four months. Long-term unemployment is 
at a post-World War II high, and the president 
now says that the focus has to be on jobs and that 
he has a plan for creating lots of green jobs as 
part of his solution. But what if the president’s 
environmental policies are actually part of the 
problem? What if the creation of every “green” 
job destroys a greater number of other jobs? 
That’s exactly the conclusion that’s being reached 
by serious analysts.

 Europe has actually been ahead of the U.S. 
in the pursuit of a greener environment and thus 
more green jobs. The good news is that there 
is now enough data from those projects for us 
Americans to avoid the devastation that Europe’s 
policies have caused. The most detailed study 
on this issue comes from the Verso Economics 
consulting firm. Their report, entitled “Worth 
The Candle?”, demonstrates that Scotland’s efforts 
to create renewable energy resulted in the loss of 
4 jobs elsewhere in the economy for every 1 job 
that was created in the green economy. These 
results are not unique or isolated. The report’s 
conclusions are similar to studies in Spain and 
other European countries which documented 
losses of 2 to 3 regular jobs for every green job 
created.

 The Verso study points out that the economics 
of renewable energy just aren’t favorable. The 
bottom line is that the cost of creating a unit of 
energy from renewable sources (wind and solar, 
primarily) are so high as to be unaffordable for 
industry and consumers. Let’s look at a simple 
example. If it costs you $1 to buy a unit of 
electricity generated by a traditional coal or oil 
energy facility but it costs you $3 to buy it from a 
green source, you will have $2 less in your pocket 
if you buy the green energy. That means you’ll 
have $2 less to spend on anything else. While 
your purchase of green energy will give a job to a 
worker in the green production facility, it will take 
away several jobs at the restaurant, grocery store, 
or clothing store that you would have visited if 
you hadn’t spent the money on green energy.

 The problem with diagnosing this is one of 
visibility. It’s easy for the press to show up at 
the unveiling of a new green energy facility for 
obvious reasons. It’s in one location, and the press 
will have received an invitation to the ceremony 
as part of the P.R. campaign. In no time at all, the 
“triumph” of green energy is splashed on our T.V. 
screens and across our newspapers.

 What’s harder to detect is the fact that the 
consumers of the green energy (the ones who lose 
the extra $2) won’t go to a store they would have 
visited. How can the press possibly show us what 
doesn’t occur? There is a built in bias to seeing 
the job creation and missing the job destruction. 
But it exists nonetheless, and it typically takes 
an economic analysis, 
like the Verso study, 
to document the 
devastating affects of so 
many environmental 
policies.

 If the numbers in 
the Verso report, which 
covered the relatively 
small land mass of 
England/Scotland, are 
extrapolated to the 
overwhelmingly larger U.S., the president’s 
promised 3 million new jobs from alternative 
energy will result in a loss of another 6.6 million 
jobs elsewhere. The net effect will be 3.6 fewer 
jobs. That’s an awful lot of job losses for an 
economy that’s already teetering with 25 million 
people looking for work.

 Beyond those direct affects, though, lie the even 
more insidious and longer-term affects. If we’re 
really going to adopt environmental policies that 
raise the cost of energy beyond the cost of what’s 
available from traditional sources, and thus 
available in other countries not following our 
lead down the rabbit hole, you would naturally 
expect that businesses will decide to move their 
facilities out of the U.S. to these other countries. 
There will also be untold numbers of businesses 
that will decide not to open a new facility here, 
but will do so elsewhere.

 The job losses from these decisions aren’t easy 
to get back. Once a company moves a facility to 
another country, or builds one there, you can’t 
convince them to return to the U.S. simply by 
voiding the renewable energy mandates. The 
investment in a new facility demands that the 
new facility be used for periods of 10, 15 or 
even 25+ years. The job losses associated with 
relocation are long-term losses that almost never 
come back.

 The results in Europe have been so devastatingly 
clear that several countries in the EU have 
publicly indicated that they are abandoning the 
EU renewable energy targets. The Daily Mail 
summed up the situation by declaring the pursuit 
of renewable energy the “greatest scam of our 
age.” 

 Despite the clear cut evidence of the stupidity 
of this pursuit, our Energy Secretary and Interior 
Secretary announced the fast tracking of offshore 
wind farms along the Northeast coast. I guess 
we’ll soon be reading about the results of Obama’s 
new focus on jobs. 

About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is a 
freelance writer and has spoken to several civic 
and religious organizations on cultural and 
moral issues. He lives in the Los Angeles area 
with his wife and 3 children and is active in the 
community. He can be reached at gregwelborn@
earthlink.net.

GREG Welborn

 
"The end of the Gaddafi 
regime in Libya is a victory 
for the Libyan people and for 
the broader cause of freedom 
. . . but we regret that this 
success was so long in coming 
due to the failure of the 
United States to employ the 
full weight of our airpower."

- Statement from Sens. 
John McCain (R-AZ) and 
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

 

 "It's like, if anything good happens, I had nothing 
to do with it. But If anything bad happens, I must 
have stayed up all night planning it."

- President Bill Clinton

 

 Blogger Steve Benen of the Washington 
Monthly observes that those accusing others 
of a "blame America first" propensity have 
themselves become part of a "thank America 
last" crowd.

 

 Benen linked to a recent NY Times article 
which describes the 24/7 American surveillance 
on behalf of Libyan rebel and NATO forces, 
specifically the use of Predator drones to "detect, 
track, and occasionally fire at" government forces 
in advance of the assault on Tripoli. 

 

 For the past six months, the U.S. and NATO 
have flown 7,459 strike missions against 
thousands of Libyan targets. Using supplied 
technology, Libyan rebels identified targets and 
transmitted locations to the NATO targeting 
center in Italy.

 

 For the past three months, the U.S. together 
with NATO and Libyan rebels have been 
preparing for this final assault by securing the 
defection of officers from the Libyan military 
and Gaddafi's personal guard, strategizing pincer 
attacks by forces to the West, and smuggling 
arms to civilians inside Tripoli.

 

 Even as the assault began, U.S. Asst Secretary 
of State Jeff Feltman was in Benghazi, making 
arrangements for government transition and 
the delivery of medical and other humanitarian 
supplies. President Obama and Secretary of 
State Clinton have spoken with officials of the 
Transitional National Council.

 

 As of this writing, there's still gunfire in 
Tripoli and Gaddafi remains in hiding, but over 
six million Libyans are celebrating the end of 
forty-plus years of dictatorship and the onset of 
freedom. And Sens. McCain and Graham are 
saying we should've bombed them more.

 

 While others were pursuing a "long form" 
birth certificate in early May, President Obama 
was engaged in a pursuit of his own. He'd barely 
announced the killing of Osama bin Laden, 
though, when we were inundated by claims we 
owed that success not to presidential leadership 
and Seal Team Six, but to torture committed 
under President Bush. As Steve Benen put it 
in his recent blog, "When the fear of Obama 
getting some credit for success is stronger than 
the satisfaction that comes with a tyrant’s fall, 
there’s a problem."

 

 Last March, Republican candidate Mitt 
Romney accused Obama of being "weak" for 
addressing Libya through the Arab League and 
the United Nations. At a debate in June, Rep. 
Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) expressed concern 
over "some reports" and asked, "What possible 
vital American interests could we have to 
empower Al Qaeda of North Africa and Libya?" 
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) flatly 
declares, "this indecisive president had little to 
do with this triumph."

 

 Among those who might disagree are the 
thousands who crowded the streets of Benghazi 
when word spread the rebels had entered Tripoli. 
Captured by an A.P. photographer, a large sign 
in the middle of the throng at the central square 
was headed "FANTASTIC 4", at the bottom the 
phrases (in English), "GOD BLESS YOU ALL" 
and "THANKS FOR ALL", across the middle 
portraits of Susan Rice, David Cameron, Nicolas 
Sarkozy and Barack Obama, and at the four 
corners the flags of Libya, Great Britain, France 
and the United States.

 

 Susan Rice, our ambassador to the United 
Nations, early on pushed through Security 
Council sanctions imposing a no-fly zone, arms 
embargo and the freezing of Libyan assets. She 
made clear, "The message for Gaddafi and those 
closest to him is that history is not on their 
side. Time is not on their side. The pressure is 
mounting," 

 

 Sens. McCain and Graham predicted stalemate. 
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said 
NATO "won't bring much to the fight." Gingrich 
joined Rep. Bachmann in parroting Gaddafi's 
line that it's all about Al Qaeda. Former U.N. 
Ambassador John Bolton warned we were setting 
ourselves up for "massive strategic failure."

 

 As for ousting Gaddafi, former V.P. Dick 
Cheney worried, "It's not clear to me that this 
administration is up to the task." Sarah Palin 
wondered on Facebook, "Simply put, what are 
we doing there?"

 

 President Obama made our goal clear from 
the outset; in addition to humanitarian aid and 
protecting civilians, it's to see "a Libya that allows 
its citizens to determine their own destiny."

 

 That's a concept difficult for those on the other 
side to grasp; those for whom "regime change" is 
a matter of a superior military force imposing its 
will on a people we expect to be grateful, and out 
tossing flower petals as foreign tanks roll into 
their neighborhoods.

 

 After nearly a decade of incalculable cost to our 
nation and our standing in the world, conflicts in 
Iraq and Afghanistan remain unresolved with no 
foreseeable end. The architects and supporters 
of those disasters, though, have no hesitation 
in passing judgment on President Obama's 
leadership during the six-month conflict in 
Libya. 

 

 They won't accept that the gratitude and 
affection shown our president and European 
partners by the crowds in Benghazi was real; not 
a staged event like the toppling of the Saddam 
Hussein statue in Baghdad.

 

 In Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya, we're 
witnessing an emerging confirmation of the 
words President Obama spoke in Cairo in 
June, 2009, that we "share common principles - 
principles of justice and progress, tolerance and 
the dignity of all human beings".

 

 Two months after that speech, Sens. McCain 
and Graham made their own trip to North 
Africa, to meet with a foreign leader in his 
compound. Check out the handshaking and 
even a little bowing in the YouTube video, 
"Lieberman McCain Graham Meet With Gadaffi To 
Discuss Terrorist Release, BP Oil, And Weapons".


BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques


ENTREPRENEURS 
& INTRAPRENEURS 
COMMON 
PERSEVERANCE 

by La Quetta M. Shamblee

A friend once asked me, 
“Do you know the difference 
between a bit shot and a 
little shot?” “A big shot 
is simply a little shot who 
wouldn’t stop shooting. He 
was speaking about the 
tenacity that is common 
among those who aspire to 
be successful entrepreneurs. 
Every entrepreneur who has 
attained success has gone 
through a series of challenges, 
and in some instances, 
what others would consider 
failure. What distinguishes 
the entrepreneur is “how” 
they perceive and respond to 
these challenges.

They’re always focused on 
solutions, not constantly 
focused on or rehashing the 
problem in front of them. 
For entrepreneurs, it’s all 
about doing what’s needed 
to make progress, how to 
get beyond, around or climb 
over the obstacle in order 
to reach the desired goal. 
Usually, it is the entrepreneur 
who has assumed all or most 
of the risk, which translates 
into clear-cut accountability 
for everything that happens. 
Entrepreneurs don’t have 
time for finger pointing, 
because they know that in the 
end, all fingers will point back 
to them. It is this perspective 
that results in resiliency and 
the ability to persevere and 
eventually make it to the 
finish line in the most trying 
of circumstances.

A lot has been written about 
“internal entrepreneurs” 
who apply their innovative 
approaches in their roles as 
employees, usually working 
for large corporations. Also 
referred to as “intrapreneurs,” 
they are known for creating 
new opportunities within 
existing companies while 
having a simultaneous 
impact on the organization’s 
culture. 

Corporate icons like Lee 
Iococca who introduced 
the Mustang to the market 
while working at Ford Motor 
Company, seem to share the 
same perspective as self-
employed entrepreneurs 
who have started and build 
successful businesses from 
scratch. Iococca stated, I 
have always found that if 
I move with seventy-five 
percent or more of the facts 
that I usually never regret it. 
It’s the guys who want to have 
everything perfect that drive 
you crazy.” Welsh of General 
Electric who has been called 
“one of the greatest corporate 
leaders of this century.” One 
of his quotes demonstrates a 
commonality among all true 
entrepreneurs, “I’ve learned 
that mistakes can often be as 
good a teacher as success.”

Millions of pages have 
been written about the 
characteristics and traits 
common to successful 
entrepreneurs, but some of 
the most inspiring lessons 
can be learned from their 
personal expressions. Oil 
magnate and philanthropist 
John D. Rockefeller (1839-
1937) was the country’s 
first billionaire. His words 
mirror the sentiments that 
you will hear repeated in 
variations by modern day 
entrepreneurs. He said, “I do 
not think there is any other 
quality so essential to success 
of any kind as the quality of 
perseverance. It overcomes 
almost everything, even 
nature.”

 LOS ANGELES COUNTY – A motion 
by County Mayor Michael D. Antonovich 
would oppose state legislation providing legal 
protections for a proposed football stadium 
in downtown Los Angeles, unless provisions 
are made to provide similar protection 
for critical public and non-profit facilities 
including hospitals, libraries, schools and 
transportation projects. 

 

“State legislators should put vital projects like 
hospitals, libraries, schools and transportation 
projects on equal footing with football 
stadiums giving them the same protection 
from legal exposure,” said Antonovich in a 
letter to state legislators. “The argument that 
a stadium needs special treatment because 
it will create jobs and spur local economic 
growth applies equally to other projects crucial 
for the public and funded by their tax 
dollars.” 

 In his motion, Antonovich said that rather 
than passing laws for special developer interests, 
the legislature should eliminate the 
State's cumbersome rules and regulations 
that create barriers to all economic development 
for public and non-profit facilities. 
“The environmental review process adds 
over a year to government construction projects 
that provide vital public services such 
as hospitals, libraries and schools,” he said. 
“The construction of critical projects such as 
the High Desert Multispecialty Ambulatory 
Care Center (MACC) and the Martin Luther 
King Jr. MACC are routinely delayed due to 
state bureaucratic red tape.”

ANTONOVICH MOVES TO BLOCK 
SPECIAL INTEREST LEGISLATION FOR 
DOWNTOWN STADIUM 

County Mayor Says Similar Relief from Restrictive Environmental 
Regulations Should Be Extended to Hospitals, Libraries, Schools and 
Transportation Projects 

CURBING BAD BEHAVIOR CHILDHOOD OBESITY


Sacramento - The Joint Legislative 
Audit Committee 
today agreed to investigate 
Assemblymember Anthony 
Portantino’s request for an 
audit on serious charges 
of overcharging and repair 
work in state-owned properties 
along the 710 Freeway 
corridor. Portantino 
requested the audit into how 
Caltrans has managed state 
properties along the 710 
Freeway right-of-way in the 
Pasadena area, after a newspaper 
reported finding roof 
repairs costing “four to five 
times what most homeown

ers could expect to pay for a 
new roof”.

“We’re going to get to the 
bottom of this,” stated Assemblymember 
Portantino. 
“I asked for this audit to see 
if there are overcharges or 
even fraud in how the State 
is handling the hundreds 
of properties they control 
along the 710 corridor. We 
need to identify the problem 
and solve it. This is taxpayer 
money we’re talking about. I 
was very alarmed when the 
LA Times reported that the 
state Department of Trans

portation was paying outrageous 
amounts of money for 
repairs and maintenance, especially 
since many of these 
homes have been empty for 
years and may be torn down 
in the future. The State Auditor 
has laid out a comprehensive 
audit which would 
shed sunshine on how these 
properties are managed 
and whether or not the expenditures 
and repairs are 
appropriate.” 

This is the first in a series 
of posts I plan on writing 
about Childhood Obesity. 
The epidemic, Childhood 
Obesity, is hindering the 
healthy lives of millions 
of American children. 
The First Lady, Michelle 
Obama, has launched a 
campaign to combat the 
epidemic. Mrs. Obama hopes one of her legacies 
will be her work in reducing childhood obesity, 
an effort she already has begun by planting the 
White House garden and joining in physical activities 
with children.

The issue – who decides what our children eat 
– with its rancor political tone has created a 
predicament for health officials, because of the 
powerful corporations and lawmakers who are 
involved in debating what’s healthy for American 
children. ”Government statistics showed about 
32% of children and adolescents are obese or 
overweight. Almost 20% of children ages 6 to 11 
and 18% of those ages 12 to 19 are obese. Such 
children are at a greater risk for weight-related 
health problems such as high cholesterol and 
diabetes, and they have an increased chance of 
becoming obese adults.”

If we don’t arrest the Childhood Obesity epidemic 
in America, who is going to become the country’s 
future soldiers, police officers, construction 
workers and firemen? These careers require the 
individuals who are accepted to work in them to 
be physically fit and healthy. The vigorous campaign 
must begin with parents preparing healthy 
meals for their children; encouraging the children 
to exercise (take a break from sitting at their 
computers for long hours) and knowing the obesity 
facts. Elementary and high schools administrators 
must also do their part to provide more 
nutritious food in their cafeterias and vending 
machines.

We must train our children and ourselves to eat 
healthy. High schools such as Hollywood High 
School in Los Angeles, California is leading the 
way by banning all junk foods out of the school’s 
vending machines. In the meanwhile, the debate 
for our children’s health continues.

PORTANTINO REQUEST STATE AUDIT OF 
CALTRANS PROPERTIES ALONG THE 710 
FREEWAY CORRIDOR

Ron Carter