Thursday, March 28, 2024

Democrats Kick-Start Renewable Energy Subsidy Arms Race

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Industrial policy is all the rage in official policy circles, with the U.S. leading the way owing to the comically ill-named “Inflation Reduction Act.” It's a good time to be a statist and an even better time to be a private company looking for a hefty dose of corporate welfare.

But as with all welfare/protectionist schemes, the IRA has caused a ruckus with the past masters of state-sponsored capitalism, the . The EU's bureaucrats are deeply worried that the lure of American taxpayer dollars will prove too great for European conglomerates to resist.

The EUcrats complain that our 's income redistribution schemes are “toxic.” And on one level, this is correct. Government has, at best, a checkered past when it comes to picking winners and losers. Worse is the practice of subsidizing private companies to conduct they would either do on their own – accepting both the risks and the rewards – or not do because the risks couldn't justify the costs.

It's economically inefficient (and downright wasteful). And not a little immoral.

The EU's obvious response to America's corporate welfare scheme would be to make doing business in Europe less costly, more efficient and more market-centered.

It looks like Europe will instead listen to the pleas of its own (apparently) welfare-starved corporations…and Sen. Joe Manchin…and go the full :

The EU is considering policies that…include a plan to relax government-subsidy rules and are broadly expected to focus on the same clean-tech sectors as the U.S. legislation.

In other words, a trans-Atlantic fight over who can be the most generous corporate sugar daddy.

And taxpayers on both sides of the water will foot the (increasingly) hefty bills for all of it.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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Norman Leahy
Norman Leahy
Norman Leahy has written about national and Virginia politics for more than 30 years with outlets ranging from The Washington Post to BearingDrift.com. A consulting writer, editor, recovering think tank executive and campaign operative, Norman lives in Virginia.

2 COMMENTS

    • The REAL agenda of this Globalist SCUM is to bankrupt ALL Western democratic countries, the better to herd them into a globally-controlled NWO dictatorship.

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