Where are the ‘green’ jobs?

The Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail: Green jobs were supposed to save the planet and boost the U.S. economy, but a new report shows that while the nation blew billions, the jobs created on President Barack Obama’s watch have been few.

“Since 2009, the wind industry has lost 10,000 jobs, even as the energy capacity of wind farms has almost doubled,” Wynton Hall of Breitbart.com reported.

“By contrast, the oil and gas industry has created 75,000 jobs since Mr. Obama took office.”

A $500 million job training program financed by the Labor Department helped only 20,000 people find work and remains far short of its goal to place 80,000 workers in green jobs by next year.

Hall cited a report by Reuters.

“None of this will come as a surprise to conservatives and Republicans,” Hall wrote. “Indeed, the ream of failed green-energy stories is endless.

“Still, it’s encouraging to see a consensus among mainstream media begin to sprout — even if green jobs aren’t.”

It’s not the job of the government to create jobs. The private sector created those 75,000 oil-and-gas jobs with little government assistance.

It’s time for Washington to stand back and let capitalism work its magic. If solar, wind and other alternatives are ever going to work, they ought to have to do it on their own without billions in forced contributions from taxpayers.