Today’s Washington Post profiles Governor Granholm (D) the first female governor of Michigan (elected in 2002) and her priority of bringing “green” jobs to her state.
In 2006, Granholm used traditional techniques, you know, $37 million in tax breaks and Super Bowl tickets for executives, to bring a solar panel manufacturer into a town that had just lost 3,000 jobs to outsourcing. However, not only did just 80 of the 400 jobs go to those who had been laid off, but the plant is now furloughing employees as a result of the economic downturn.
Our own Governor Perdue has made a similar pledge, declaring that “green is gold” for North Carolina and is pushing for $28 million to provide loans for and support new “green” businesses in the state. She also has a long track record supporting incentives (although business executives would likely need to settle for NASCAR tickets).
Simply because a business is “green” does not make it any less immune to failure or market realities. Obviously, and as Governor Granholm learned, solar panels tend to become less of a priority among unemployed consumers.
Recent legislative activty indicates that going “green” remains a high priority for the State with implementation of additional tax credits and revolving loan funds. And yet these are simply the beginning of another long set of incentive failures for North Carolina.
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