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Green jobs take a lot of green money

August 03, 2009

The $47 million or so spent by the "Iowa Power Fund" has created all of 100 jobs so far - even though matched by $85 million in federal money and $101 million in private money, according to a state report. The Des Moines Register reports on the resulting goal-post moving:

Although the focus has been on job creation, Roeder said, that is just one of the Power Fund's missions.

"Part of it was to create jobs and part of it was to create a climate that attracts other renewable energy companies, and part of it was to make Iowa a place where the renewable energy industry is going to grow," he said.

But everything will just work out fine if these projects that require massive state and federal subsidies "succeed":

Ron Robinson, a senior analyst for the Legislative Services Agency, said that if the projects succeed, they could create 850 to 1,000 jobs.

Absent $5 gasoline, the only success these projects are likely to see is winning additional subsidies from the taxpayers.

Tags: corporate welfare.Economic development.

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