Tuesday, December 18, 2007

If you lived here, you would be home by now


You know those real estate for sale signs that are on a busy commute route? The ones that say, "If you lived here, you would be home by now."

In October, we compared the 49ers' subsidy request to a much more modest request from Nanosolar, a solar energy company ($222,000,000 vs. $1,500,000.)

Today, the San Jose Mercury News reported that Nanosolar has shipped its first product.

The construction crews that built the factory have already been paid. Those full-time manufacturing jobs at Nanosolar are already on the books. The tax revenues are already rolling in.

Meanwhile, we've spent 1/3 of what Nanosolar wanted, just to study the 49ers' subsidy request.

We at Santa Clara Plays Fair do not favor public subsidies for any kind of private enterprise, but we would like to point out, for those who believe in such things, that there are better ways to go about it.

"If you subsidized green energy, you would be making money by now."