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Tom Watson: Capps Still Tilting at Windmills with Green Dreams
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, recently sent an email referencing an article she authored in Politico, an online political magazine, titled “Regional Strategy Key to Clean Energy.” In it she waxed philosophic about how new green energy opportunities were key to our future, and how California and the Central Coast were uniquely positioned to take advantage of these opportunities and use them to grow our economy to a new, clean green nirvana.
If only. Perhaps our Congresswoman should spend a little more time trying to keep what clean companies we do have in California, in California. Just this year to date, we have had at least five clean companies flee California in some manner for greener pastures:
» Aptera Motors, which had plans to hire several thousand direct employees and create probably 10,000 supplier-related jobs to design and manufacture ultra-efficient cars, is looking to now manufacture somewhere Back East. They will not manufacture in California.
» Calisolar Inc., as in “California Solar,” is a solar energy company that is planning to invest $750 million in Ontario. Unfortunately, it’s not Ontario, Calif., but Ontario, Ohio.
» Fallbrook Technologies is a California-based clean tech company that designs efficient transmissions for vehicles. It already has an operations center in Texas and is expanding there, instead of California.
» Sharp is a huge Japan-based electronics company, whose Solar Energy Solutions Group is relocating to Washington from California. It can’t be for the sunshine. Sharp is a leading manufacturer of solar cells and produces solar cells in Tennessee and Japan, not in California.
» WindStream Technologies Inc., which manufactures small wind turbines designed for residential energy use. It is scheduled to produce more than 40,000 units in three years — only not in California but Indiana.
Then there is our very own Carpinteria-based Clipper Windpower, which manufactures its wind turbines in Iowa instead of here at home. So much for our “clean-energy regional innovation clusters” as the Congresswoman described them.
Including all industries, there have been well more than 100 such events statewide just since January. According to sources that track such activities, the rate of companies “disinvesting” in California is five times higher this year than 2009 and about twice as high as 2010. The rate of businesses fleeing our state is accelerating.
Don’t blame these companies. They are simply doing the math and making businesslike, economically rational decisions to be competitive and profitable. Blame your government for creating conditions in which California companies can’t operate in California if they want to survive.
Between our 50th ranking among the states in business friendliness, our 48th ranking in taxes and schools, and a regulatory environment that discourages manufacturing and increases costs, is it any wonder that companies are fleeing our state for friendlier grounds? These are self-inflicted wounds.
Rep. Capps and the rest of our politicians from the local to the federal level need to get serious about making our state — and country, for that matter — an attractive place to do business. As long as we continue to pursue our current policies we will continue to see companies leave California. Why would anyone expect otherwise?
There is a limit to how much people are willing to pay for good weather, and it would appear we’ve found it. This happy talk from Mrs. Capps needs to be backed up with rational public policy if we are really serious about reviving our economy and growing jobs here at home.
Our tax and regulatory environment needs to be rationalized with the rest of the country if we want to keep jobs here and grow. It’s that simple. It is a competitive environment both domestically and globally, and at the moment California is a sitting duck.
These platitudes Mrs. Capps offers are meaningless without actual business-friendly policies that encourage companies to stay and grow here, not elsewhere as they do now. Naturally, Mrs. Capps’ solution is to support yet another bill that will spend more money we don’t have to encourage “green” energy and the like, in essence having the government setting priorities instead of the market.
Perhaps our Congresswoman is unaware of the experience of Spain, which has nearly bankrupted the country trying to be a green energy leader. Studies performed on the effectiveness of this “green-jobs” effort showed that Spain actually lost 2.2 regular jobs for every green job created. Portugal, Scotland and others have had similarly poor results. Where do we sign up?!
Green energy or any other kind of business or industry needs to be economically cost competitive and viable without requiring the government to continually “invest” massive amounts of money to keep it afloat. We cannot afford to divert scarce resources to overly support politically preferred industries. R&D funding is one thing, but trying to force a square peg in a round hole through brute force is quite another.
What Mrs. Capps and too many of our elected officials don’t seem to grasp is that more government is not the solution to our problems, it is the problem. Uncontrolled borrowing and spending by government, trying to pick winners (e.g. green energy) and losers (conventional energy), costly and destructive regulations like Obamacare and the recent Dodd-Frank financial bill, an EPA run amok, and constantly threatening to raise taxes are what is holding our economy back.
Our government, at all levels, is raising the cost of employment and doing business and then wondering why employers aren’t rushing out to hire people. In the meantime, real people are struggling to keep their jobs, or find one, or hold on to their greatly devalued homes. It’s a tragedy deserving more from our leaders than Mrs. Capps’ misguided approach.
— Tom Watson is a Santa Barbara businessman and was the 2010 Republican nominee for the 23rd Congressional District.
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» on 06.29.11 @ 02:30 PM
Great piece Tom! I have been screaming at people for years now about this and so many who live here don’t have a clue. They still don’t understand the very basics of economics. They don’t understand that economies as a system have to have an input greater than their output to grow and make more wealth. Our state economy is consuming wealth at a voracious rate and literally killing its ability to make more. By wealth I mean added value to the economy, not what s left in your pocket after the government confiscates it.
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» on 06.29.11 @ 06:05 PM
But wait Tom , wasn’t it you who told us that extending the Bush tax cuts would have an immediate impact on hiring. Well it’s been almost 7 months now… I guess you were just a tad off on that one.
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» on 06.29.11 @ 06:18 PM
So Wally, increasing taxes would have created jobs?
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» on 06.29.11 @ 06:55 PM
Wireless, if you are looking for any type of coherence from our local nest of progressives you shall die before you see it. But one thing you can say for GeeWiz he certainly is a proponent of the keynesian coma his boy has led us into.
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» on 06.29.11 @ 07:42 PM
Yes Johnny, they are indeed. But unfortunately most Californians don’t have a friggen clue about what the problems we face are or how to fix them. So the majority elect dim wits, ignoramuses and snake oil peddlers. All you need to qualify for office in this state is some idiot cause to prop up and a lot of pop cult buzz words. Brains, forget it, the smartest people have already left and we idiots who stuck it out are going down with the ship. Sorry to sound so cynical, but every time a politician in this state opens their mouth it makes me hurl.
Willie how in the world was sparing wealth generating industry from more taxation going to work with all the other boat anchors they have around their necks? I know you think wealth is produced on a printing press like our esteemed president. But it isn’t. To get a clue what Dan and wireless are talking about look at the relationship between revenues to the government versus tax rates on business and individuals. The relationship is reciprocal, meaning higher taxes always reduce revenues and lower tax rates always increase revenues. Its easy to understand when you realize what a friggen drag any government is on an economy.
However, and this is a biggie, the relationship only works when the economy is in good order, which it is not now. That doesn’t mean you should reverse the reciprocal relationship. Higher taxes now would only serve to exasperate the problems our economy is suffering through and further reduce revenue to government. What it does mean is that we can expect that with lower tax rates, revenues to government will also go down. Sorry Willie without a working economy that actually builds wealth (value) tax revenues will go down no matter what you do.
If on the other hand we get rid of the current crop of Luddite, ignoramuses we dopy idiots elected and get people who are more interested in doing the job they were elected to do rather than running reelection campaigns, we might be able to pull off a turn around. Face it; there is now some $44trillion dollars in liquid assets sitting offshore. The owners would like nothing more than to invest in the world’s greatest economy and country, but they won’t until we the idiot citizenry decide we want a working, innovating, wealth building country again and get this $14 trillion dollar in debt, maniacal nanny state government off our friggen back. The nice thing is, once we get back to doing what we do best, getting wealthy while improving our lot in life there will be more spare wealth to share with you socialists, liberals and progressives so you can have your guilt messaging feel good crap. But I don’t see you Neanderthals backing down anytime soon even while the states of Europe who you worship, reject and attempt to reverse the socialist courses they embarked on decades ago.
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» on 06.29.11 @ 07:48 PM
Wally, one other thing. Where and when exactly did the author say that extending the Bush tax cuts would have an immediate impact on employment? Please share. I don’t recall anyone saying that, me thinks you are taking a few liberties with the facts.
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» on 06.30.11 @ 04:47 AM
Dear Editor,
The comments by Mr. Watson on the need to create a business environment conducive to clean energy companies are on point. Then he trails off into rhetoric when he attempts to draw a conclusion from the experience of Spain. I suggest he look at Germany, France, China and so many other countries that recognize the economic and foreign policy efficacy of a mature clean energy market. The future of Ca depends on creative solutions that generate middle class jobs and tax revenues. Clean energy is such an industry if and only if Ca recognizes that it must create a business environment in which these companies thrive.
Bob Pohl
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» on 06.30.11 @ 06:10 AM
What’s wrong with windmills? The wind howls between Pt. Concepcion and Goleta. We could put up hundreds and then we would have the energy to power…...Goleta! Just like the one we put in Vandenberg! Oh wait…that one was rejected!
I am sure Capps would vote for that, wouldn’t she? All the leftist surfers could see them while surfing The Ranch all the way through the Gaviota Coast. Maybe they could do a paddle out like they did protesting Paradon. A paddle out to push windmills for energy along Gaviota! Come on Lois and Pedro, put it together!
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» on 06.30.11 @ 08:49 AM
Bobby, Bobby, Bobby (and let’s not forget Gee, NotaLotta, et.al.). Let’s see. What country is building 1 coal fired power plant a week? What country is buying up all the oil concessions throughout the world and drilling in locations where U.S. companies are told not to? Now as you type away, in your basement, on your Chinese manufactured keyboard and send your message over foreign made wires. I wonder if your ignorant enthusiasm for your slavery would be as great if you could no longer do these things because you could no longer afford them. Eh? It is always amusing to watch our slovenly educated enjoy, and demand, all the perks of our society yet resist any of the hassles these perks bring. So from now on I will call your ilk – GENIMBYKCP’s (pronounced – Gen-Nimby-Cup’s). Which is short for, Government Educated Not In My Back Yard Keynesian Coma Promoter’s. I bet you had a Mathews tingle go up your leg when you saw CP because you thought it meant Communist Party…yes?
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» on 06.30.11 @ 09:03 AM
“I wonder if your ignorant enthusiasm for your slavery would be as great if you could no longer do these things because you could no longer afford them. Eh? It is always amusing to watch our slovenly educated enjoy, and demand, all the perks of our society yet resist any of the hassles these perks bring.”
This is a serious issue and comments like the above trivialize the conversation. I suggest that a comprehensive approach to trade issues and energy development is needed. It is competitive our there and a strategic approach led by business will make us less dependent on others.
Enough on this.
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» on 06.30.11 @ 09:18 AM
Bob,
Actually the experience of all countries that have tried to have a government directed green energy industry has been the same. You mentioned the Germans, they are backing out of all of the subsidies. It doesn’t matter where you are, the economics are not there for renewables and as coastal local pointed out there is tremendous NIMBYism from the very people, like Capps, who pine on endlessly about green energy—- as long as its somewhere else.
Solar and wind are not cost competitive with conventional sources without government subsidies. Maybe someday they will be but not now. Those subsidies are diverting resources from other uses. This is where Spain and others got themselves in trouble, by propping up these industries with massive subsidies they starved other areas of their economy of capital costing jobs. Those economics apply everywhere.
Secondly, wind and solar are by nature intermittent, therefore conventional capacity must be sufficient to handle peak demands when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
Bottom line is we can’t afford to subsidize inefficient forms of energy and we need more, not less conventional energy sources available.
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» on 06.30.11 @ 09:25 AM
Son, we have been trying to have a serious discussion on these issues for years. The problem is, as usual, that like the old Russian statement - What is mine is mine, what is yours is negotiable - has been the left’s approach. We have more than enough energy resources in our very own nation to supply us for a long time to come. But since leftists have an abiding hatred for all things American we are relegated to going overseas, or forced to use technology that has been around for over a hundred years and still cannot survive unless it is propped up by the taxpayer. So ask yourself this, “If our own energy production is so bloody terrible then why do we fund overseas operations like Brazil, etc. rather than invest here? Hmmm? Or is it that most leftists are xenophobic and deeply racist to the degree that they will foist this so-called evil technology to other nations - out of sight mind you - so that they can continue to blissfully pontificate on their truly sublime approach to our environment and the need for clean energy? And oh, lest we forget the now added talking point of green jobs. So I will continue to call your ilk Government Educated Not In My Back Yard Keynesian Coma Promoter’s (Gen-Nimby-Cup’s).
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» on 06.30.11 @ 10:04 AM
Dear Dan,
So lets end the discussion as labels move us no where other than to the labelers comfort zone. Enjoy.
Bob
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» on 06.30.11 @ 10:45 AM
Bobby, in this you are correct. We come from diametrically opposing belief models and I’m not willing to compromise anymore.
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» on 06.30.11 @ 11:00 AM
I doubt we are as far apart as you think but maybe over a glass of wine we can discover it that is true.
Have a great day.
Bob
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» on 06.30.11 @ 11:29 AM
Jack Daniels clean.
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» on 06.30.11 @ 04:07 PM
Why not try clear descriptions of the problems and the potential solutions rather than name calling? Too much text here devoted to ad homonym attacks. I guess when you don’t have anything substantive to suggest (article and comments) name calling is a substitute.
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» on 06.30.11 @ 06:59 PM
Bob Pohl , I would suggest that you not engage “Dan Petry”. Any difference in opinion that you may have with him will only lead to insults , which I choose to fire right back at him . You are different however. I know of you and believe that you have too much dignity than to dwell in that gutter.Your time will be better spent reasoning with open minds.
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» on 06.30.11 @ 07:33 PM
This gutter snipe is down at Palm enjoying Beach Boy music and Jack Daniels. Have fun boys.
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» on 07.01.11 @ 04:40 PM
We need to focus on the big picture when it comes to complex issues like energy production and related jobs growth and company development. Regardless of political affiliation, elected officials, like the rest of us, should realize there are no easy solutions when it comes to energy independence.
What Rep. Capps seems to be suggesting are regionally focused public private partnerships that can harness the unique capabilities we have in Santa Barbara, e.g. UCSB research programs promoting nanotechnlogy and energy efficiency, and access to investment capital firms. Technology startups in this area have already benefited from this approach.
Like the light bulb, telephone, and polio vaccine, American entrepreneurial collaboration can achieve significant technological breakthroughs that can revolutionize energy delivery - however we might envision it. Such developments may not come quickly
Having just returned from Spain, what impressed me most was not the wind farms and solar panels, but the practical energy savings devices they have deployed. Simple automated key card controls and energy efficient lighting benefit owners and users at all levels; provide manufacturing and installation jobs; and stimulate the local economy. Other countries are way ahead of of us when it comes to these simpler energy efficiencies.
Let’s be smart and try to implement strategies that benefit as many sectors as we can - and identify and pick that low hanging fruit first - and in our own backyard. MIKE HACKETT
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» on 07.02.11 @ 11:06 AM
Hey Mikey, the practical energy savings you talk about are practiced every day on the manufacturing floor. Every facilities director across the country is focused on cutting energy use, not to fulfill some wet dream of the environmental movement but just as a matter of practical bottom line cost cutting. Energy use cost money, cut back and you save that money right at the bottom line. It just amazes me no end how naïve and ignorant most people are with regards to modern manufacturing.
So Mike go visit a factory or two right here in your own country, no need to travel to the Mecca of modern liberalism, Europe to find energy savings. But you better hurry because if your liberal cohorts have their way there won’t be any manufacturing here pretty soon.
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» on 07.03.11 @ 07:13 AM
Mike,
Actually, what I got out of Capps article is she is once again touting another government driven/centered approach to this that spends more money, borrowed money, to favor one form of energy over another. That’s what that bit about supporting yet another “act” of Congress was all about.
The point of Tom’s piece seems to be twofold, one, our government is chasing companies out of CA - including these “clean” companies she touts. Secondly, having a government driven program to create “green” companies has proven to be an expensive and destructive failure in other countries. Why would she or anyone else expect different results here? We don’t need to reinvent the wheel or repeat other peoples predictable mistakes.
The problem with all of this government driven stuff where they pick which companies or technologies will succeed is that it always fails. The market will decide which energy technologies will prevail based on how cost effective they are, not how politically correct they are.
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» on 07.03.11 @ 03:05 PM
The church of right-wing indignation is convulving once again around their martyr, St. Thomas duh Watson. Pope Bogus has moved on from “margs” to the hard stuff, “clean.” (He may mean “neat” but after 6 or 7 who knows?)Bishop ANchove and Cardinal Witless will soon announce that the Holy See would like the clocks turned back so that Happy Hour begins at daybreak and ends with his nether parts becoming numb.
The laity is invited to witness them as they congregate at Palm to feed their corpulence and reassure one another. Sister Cindy Elephant may be there with her attending Nuns and Somes, making small talk.
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» on 07.03.11 @ 04:54 PM
AN50 and Wireless we now have the Dems suggesting that B.O. can bypass Congress on the debt ceiling. Amazing how far we have devolved as a nation…that said, have a great 4th of July!
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» on 07.04.11 @ 09:23 AM
Dan,
And your surprised Obama would ignore the Constitution? What else is new? This is par for the course with this guy. He knows best, like every Marxist. 2012 can’t come soon enough…..
Happy 4th!
Rambler,
Crawl back under that rock you’ve been hiding under the last month or so.
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» on 07.04.11 @ 10:53 AM
There you have it! The great Pope Bogus his trusty Cardinal Witless have spoken! The Great Heretic is also a Marxist! The Church may not be able to squeeze Him, as hoped, to their demands. He will raise the Debt Ceiling without Church Approval! These are indeed Dark Days, if not End Days!
Obviously, this Heretic does not Believe in our Rights!
I. The Right to Pollute - a long Sacred Right since before the evil advent of Indoor Plumbing and heretical rules against public defecation.
II. The Right to EnSlave Less Well-Armed Men - so long the basis for Mankind’s rise from Darkness, since Biblical Times a Right Obviously Given By GOD.
III. The Right to distribute scarce resources into the pockets of clever speculators and moneylenders, and out of the pockets of undeserving Laboroers, Craftsmen, and Intellectuals!
These are Rights the Church holds Sacred! If they are Abridged, the Church Laity will Revolt and move to Nevada! Or Costa Rica!
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» on 07.04.11 @ 12:46 PM
Dan I am not surprised at all. B.O. believes that all wealth and property should be controlled by government (socialism) if not outright owned by government (communism). The fact that our little cadre of liberals here doesn’t have a clue what that means is well represented by their inane comments. To Obama a catastrophic debt is the perfect way to liberate the people from their awful burden of managing their own wealth. None the less, it is the 4th so have a good one all.
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» on 07.14.11 @ 10:40 PM
Here is a late breaking gem. BTW, Capps enthusiastically and proudly voted for this nonsense.
In case you are too cheap to subscribe to the WSJ here is the cliff notes. Cellulistic ethanol was mandated in the 2007 energy boondoggle bill and nobody can produce it. So they are fining oil companies for not using a non-existant product to blend into their gasoline. Brilliant! Your hard earned tax dollars at work.
You can’t make this stuff up.
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