Is Candlemaking A Green Job?

All across the state, candidates for office are talking about how jobs in alternative energy will save Vermont. 

alternative energy development not only offers opportunities for cost savings, but also offers us opportunities to build a whole new industry around green technology.
Laura Day Moore, a Democrat from Barre making her first run for the Vermont Senate,

"I believe that in Vermont, we can be part of the next industrial boom," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham. This state can move away from the broken promises of Vermont Yankee and build an economy with renewable energy jobs, he said.
Reformer

“Studies show that 85 percent of our energy dollars leave the state, creating a significant drain on our economy. That’s why my administration will move Vermont toward local sources of electricity and fuel to keep that money in our communities and create thousands of jobs,” Symington said.

Yes, of course.  Close down Yankee and the green jobs will bloom like wildflowers in Spring.  But, one wonders, if those jobs are out there, waiting to blossom, what's holding them back?  Is it unfair competition from nuclear power?  This seems like a stretch.  If green power is so self-evidently superior, then a little competition from another energy source should not stunt its growth and poison its roots.  That argument recalls this famous essay from the classics of economics.

Comments

[Tim Vincent]

Other than selling firewood, what IS a green job?
Hard to believe that heretofore phantom jobs will magically appear just because a politician waves a magic wand.
But, such is the "land of oz" AKA the Vermont legislature.

“The multitudes remained plunged in ignorance of the simplest economic facts, and their leaders, seeking their votes, did not dare to undeceive them.”
- Winston Churchill

[Dennis Lukas]

Hey, welcome to Vermont, smoke a joint and debate, and get nothing done. In eight (8) years businesses have left the state, taxes have increased, and the major new businesses are non profits. Vermonts biggest bussines is getting grants and funding from the federal government, lets all hope Obama wins and there will be no more United States, just America of the world, for if Vermont is any indication of how a state governs itself then it should not exist, as it does not allow its people to prosper, rather the Vermont government seeks to provide for its people, a small amount of financial aid to keep them impoverished. Most dwellings in Vermont, rental or private would be condemned in most states as unfit to live in. Vermonters make do, as the government does not allow business growth and wages that allow a acceptable standard of living.

[A MA friend]

Before making fun of candlemaking better take a ride to the Yankee Candle complex just over the line in MA. And remember, the guy started in his mother's garage!

[Dennis B Bedard]

That's just great.

[Chris Campion]

Funny, Ms.Symington seems to think that dollars spent on utilities are a "drain" on our economy if they leave the state. How about those tax dollars that go uncollected when jobs leave the state? Is that also a drain on the economy?

I'm still waiting to hear anything of substance as regards the state's economy from either Pollina or Symington.