Archive for June 2009
Ethanol is a Waste of Energy, Land and Money
It’s difficult to tell what was more troubling about the pro-ethanol opinion piece The Myrtle Beach Sun-Times ran recently: that there are groups such as Americans for Democratic Action still pushing this propaganda or that one of South Carolina’s largest newspapers felt it was worthy of space in its pages.
While the Washington, D.C.-based organization does trot out several time-honored canards, such as the use of ethanol as a gasoline supplement reduces the cost by 40 cents per gallon (that difference is the result of subsidies because a gallon of ethanol costs far more to produce than a gallon of conventional gasoline), it also employs a new tactic, saying we need to continue this subsidy sinkhole because it’s “good for the economy.”
Don Kusler of Americans for Democratic Action, argues that we should continue throwing good money after bad because ethanol is a growing industry that’s producing secure domestic jobs.
If the ethanol industry is growing, it’s because it’s received tens of billions of dollars in subsidies over the past 30 years. With that kind of government support, what industry wouldn’t be producing “secure” domestic jobs?
Using Taxpayers’ Dollars to Convince Them What They Need
The South Carolina Energy Office has been awarded $109,000 by the federal government to help generate market acceptance for offshore wind energy development in South Carolina and Georgia.
The SC Energy Office will collaborate with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, utilities and other in-state partners, according to a press release.
“The project will focus specifically on an outreach effort educating the public on wind energy potential. It will also provide technical assistance on wind policy options, aid economic development efforts and encourage collaboration between state and regional partners, utilities and trade associations,” according to the release.
“State and federal officials believe that a concerted, multi-faceted effort from various statewide stakeholders will be necessary to obtain public support for offshore wind energy development along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia,” it added.
One has to be just a little wary when government officials admit “a concerted, multi-faceted effort from various statewide stakeholders will be necessary to obtain public support” for any program.
Improving Business Climate Key to Reducing Unemployment
Greenville News associate editorial page editor Paul Hyde has a solution for South Carolina’s third-worst-in-the-nation unemployment rate: spend more state tax dollars on higher education.
While Hyde is right that education plays a huge role in job opportunity, simply calling for legislators to pump more money into higher ed is a simplistic concept in a state where at least one third of kids don’t even graduate from high school.
But beyond that, Hyde is incorrect when he asserts that a large factor behind the Palmetto State’s high unemployment rate is state lawmakers’ failure to invest appropriately in higher education.
More than half of our state’s General Fund is devoted to education, K-12 up through higher ed. To put more money into higher education, while well intentioned, would mean funding would have to be drawn from other areas, either by cutting into legislators’ pet projects or taking from core services, neither of which are likely to happen.
If South Carolina wants to make more money available for higher education, its leaders must create a business environment that is more inviting to employers, businesses and entrepreneurs.
That’s because in order to have more money available for higher education, we have to grow the pie so the money is available in the first place.
The real problem isn’t that South Carolina has purposely underfunded higher education, it’s that we’ve purposely created a business climate that discourages economic growth and prosperity.
Until that changes, unemployment will remain a constant thorn in South Carolina’s side.
