The majority of wind turbines used to build a Texas wind energy project are scheduled to be manufactured in China. The $1.4 billion project is made possible by stimulus money which is U.S. taxpayer money that was supposed to go towards stimulating the U.S. economy, and not the Chinese economy. Upon learning of this misappropriation of U.S. tax dollars, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat, New York, has requested a moratorium on spending the money until legislation can be written to stop the flow of stimulus money to foreign countries. Schumer wrote to Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, that “The idea that stimulus funds would be used to create jobs overseas is quite troubling.”1 In a lame attempt to mollify the Senator, Chu wrote back that the “installation jobs” would be created in America.2 Those American jobs, however, compared to high-skilled manufacturing positions and training, are of far less value in terms of worth and future careers. Obama routinely claims that green jobs are America’s economic future, but any expenditure of American tax dollars to bolster Chinese manufacturing capabilities which at the same time reduces American manufacturing infrastructure to little more than an army of cable installers is un-American.
1 – 2. “Senators Seek to Block Stimulus Money for Overseas,” FOXNew.com, March 3, 2010. http://newsmax.com/Politics/US-Stimulus-Foreign-Jobs/2010/03/03/id/351459
