As a conservative, I am against that type of corporate welfare. That is why I am so against all of this "green jobs" and "green economy" nonsense. It is just another form of corporate welfare. Manufacturers and producers of "green" products get government welfare to make the products, then lobby Congress to pass laws to force us to buy the products. That is the ultimate corporate welfare program.

The "green economy" train has already left the station. The technology will be engineered in Germany and built in China. There will be some lower-level jobs for installers and maintainers, though.

Regardless, the environmental benefits make it a better investment in terms of creating demand and lowering the price. Similar to how government investment in infrastructure, e.g. roads and bridges, created demand for automobiles.

Are you suggesting we end the $9 billion in tax breaks for big oil companies and stop all the wars so we can quit subsidizing defense contractors? I like it so far.

I have no idea how the VW deal is structured, but it is important to understand that tax incentives are not the same as an allocation out of an existing budget. If VW got a tax break to build in Tennessee, you have to remember that those taxes would not have been paid by anyone if no factory were built. As such, imagining what would happen with the same amount of money if it were allocated for education is just a pipe dream.

The only way the incentives are a give-away of money that could be spent for something else is if the factory (or another equivalent thing) would have been built anyway without the incentives. This is a common calculation in business. Every time you use a coupon or go to a sale where discounts are offered, the seller is making the offer of a discount based on the idea that it will draw in people who would not otherwise come to make a purchase. If successful, the discount is a loss leader, and you'll end up buying other things with a profit margin still intact.

About 30% of construction costs for wind turbines comes from federal subsidies. These same companies are lobbying Congress to pass legislation to force utilities to buy more wind power.

Solar panel manufacturers are receiving large tax breaks and credits to build new plants. Then the Federal government is handing out grants for local governments to buy the products.

Just two examples of corporate welfare in the green economy. Another term I would use is crony capitalism.

I'm certainly not opposed to tax subsidies for technologies that improve the conditions for Americans. had we, for instance, never started the Iraq war for oil and spent that money on rail transportation, solar power, and improved battery and other energy storage methods, we could be seeing the end of the oil and coal economies as well as having some hope of preventing the worst of the coming global warming disaster.

Sloganeering, such as what you are espousing TK, is misleading and destructive in the long run. Somehow it has become a bad thing in the minds of some Americans for Americans to pool their resources and solve problems and attack crises. You can make pooling our resources sound like a bad thing with misplaced slogans but it is not. Working for the common good is a good thing. This is the purpose of government and properly participated in, government is a very good thing.

At least Spring Hill produced a domestic design and provided union jobs. Does anyone remember New Stanton, PA?

North American production of the VW Rabbit commenced at a factory in New Stanton, Pennsylvania in 1978. VW's American sales broke 200,000 in 1985 and 1986 before resuming the downward trend from earlier in the decade. Chairman Carl Hahn decided to expand the company elsewhere, and the New Stanton, Pennsylvania factory closed on 14 July 1988.

Here's the full story:

(link...)

As a footnote, some 9,500 supplier and other jobs are expected to be created "over time" due to the VW plant in Chattanooga, "according to the University of Tennessee." That’s in addition to the 2,000 jobs at the factory.

at some point you have to wonder how far $577.4 million would go towards, for example, developing an educated workforce ready for the jobs of the future.

Or how about holding the line on the budget deficit, for all those yelping "fiscal conservatism" out yonder?

And how much does the property tax bonanza cost Tennessee taxpayers? (Here's a hint for starters: The 10c added to every grocery dollar in this state.)

Let me point out here that if you accept that the roughly $850 Billion American Recovery Act "created or saved" "as many as" 3 million jobs, those jobs were "created or saved at a cost of roughly $285,000 per job.

The Journal of Commerce reports that U.S. railroads carried more bulk railcar loads last month than any time since August 2008.

And CSX and NS report that shipping volumes have risen more than 10% in the current quarter.