President Obama thinks insulation is sexy stuff. It saves money. But it also costs at least $23 billion. And that’s already on top of “Cash for Clunkers,” which cost at least $3 billion, though no one knows for sure.
This is Obamanomics at its worst. Spend money in order to save it? Really?
If weatherization and insulation is a good thing, then American families will make their own choices and do it alone. We the people. You see, it’s our money. People seem to forget this. Let us spend it as we see fit.
Free-market forces have increased energy efficiency by over 50 percent in the last couple of decades. This came about without the heavy hand of big-government central planners, greenie-regulators, and industrial-policy targeters.
Here’s a thought from Harvard economist Greg Mankiw in Sunday’s New York Times: Tax cuts might accomplish what spending hasn’t. Mankiw cites numerous studies covering 21 nations in the OECD, over 91 episodes since 1970 involving fiscal stimulus.
And I quote: “The results are striking. Successful stimulus relies almost entirely on cuts in business and income taxes. Failed stimulus relies mostly on increases in government spending.”
In other words, we the people, on the supply-side.
Never forget: It’s our money.