"So Big Government policies are killing GE jobs that might thrive in the free market, while creating GE jobs that never would survive in a free market. Obama is replacing unsubsidized jobs with subsidized jobs."
That is the conclusion reached by Washington Examiner columnist Timothy P. Carney, while chasing the tail of economic policy causes and effects in Kentucky, centered around corporate (and corporatist) behemoth GE. Sample:
Biden was at GE's Appliance Park in Louisville, where a raft of government subsidies (and probably some gentle urging from the White House) has spurred the multinational conglomerate to begin manufacturing hybrid electric water heaters—part of the "new foundation for a new economy," Biden said.
But later this month, 75 miles east, workers at GE's Kentucky Glass Plant get to see the other side of Big Government. About 175 workers there make glass, which is shipped to the Winchester Bulb Plant. Winchester Bulb is being shut down in September, and so the Lexington Glass Plant will be shuttered in late July.
GE explained in a press release last year, "A variety of energy regulations that establish lighting efficiency standards are being implemented in the U.S. and other countries, in some cases this year, and will soon make the familiar lighting products produced at the Winchester Plant obsolete."
These were "green" regulations that then-Sen. Obama supported in the 2007 energy bill—as did GE. The company, you see, makes more profit off the more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, because the company can charge more, but also because it makes those bulbs in China, with cheaper labor costs and fewer environmental regulations.
So, Obama and GE teamed up, pushed Big Government environmental regs and killed nearly 500 jobs in Lexington, Winchester, and another glass factory in Niles, Ohio.
Whole thing here.