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American Solutions

Supporters of the Senate energy tax, for which there are hearings taking place this week, have repeatedly claimed that cap and trade will create "green jobs" in America by taxing traditional energy production, which will supposedly lead to an economic boom of new energy technologies.

The official name of the Kerry-Boxer energy tax is even the "Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act."

It all sounds like a wonderful and fantastic future for America. Too bad it's a complete hoax.

To believe that a national energy tax will create jobs in America requires us to believe that we can tax our way to prosperity and that it is okay for the government to pick winners and losers in the economy. It demands that we reject basic economic principles about how to grow the economy and instead accept the notion that higher costs for companies will somehow allow them to hire more employees.

The reality is simple: Cap and trade will kill jobs. The Congressional Budget Office admitted this as recently as a few weeks ago. The Heritage Foundation predicts 1.8 million jobs will evaporate as soon as 2012 under the Senate energy tax. The National Association of Manufacturers predicts 2.4 million jobs lost by 2030 under cap and trade. The National Black Chamber of Commerce says by 2015 America will have lost 1.5 million jobs if we impose a new energy tax.

European countries even are starting to learn that green jobs are a myth.

In Germany, a recent study found that green jobs only existed if taxpayers churned out more than $200,000 for each job. Researchers also concluded that the high costs of green job creation in Germany would lead to higher employment in countries such as China.

In Denmark, where wind generates around 20% of their electricity but also where half of that wind energy has to be exported to other countries, taxpayers also suffer from the government's green jobs efforts. One Danish study revealed that each green job requires a taxpayer subsidy to the tune of 250 times the wage earned.

Indeed, green jobs require that the government pick winners and losers in the economy, and even then the result is fewer total jobs. Can America afford that kind of shortsighted policy when unemployment is close to 10 percent?