President Obama and Energy Secretary Steve Chu recently approved massive loan guarantees to solar projects in the U.S. as part of the federal stimulus. The biggest project was the 250 megawatt Solana Concentrating Solar Power project in Gila Bend, Arizona, to be built by a Spanish company, and which is backed by a $1.45 billion loan guarantee put up by the American taxpayer., following an earlier loan guarantee of $1.37 billion to another company for a similar project. Obama hailed the projects as a critical step in the process of going green and getting us off dependence on oil and coal and gas, while at the same time creating 5,000 jobs. One assumes there was no American company equal to the task of erecting mirrors in the desert, and one knows, by experience, that these job estimates are always much too high, but even assuming there will be as many as 5,000 jobs created, that comes to $400,000 per job. For that kind of money I’d stand in the middle of the desert holding a mirror for as long as they want.    

 

So what’s the fuss, Obama said

Four hundred K a job

Will put our nation far ahead

Of that infernal mob

That wants to keep us in the past

With oil and gas and coal

These fossil fuels just cannot last

And freedom is our goal

Freedom from the Middle East

And Chavez and the like

Who think that we will feed the beast

But we’ve a blow to strike

The sun’s the place we put our trust

The sun will never die

It’s solar power now or bust

It’s not pi in the sky

Of course on cloudy days you’ll find

Your TV will not work

And nighttime too you’re in a bind

A-groping in the murk

The cost of green is high we know

We’ll borrow just to start

The fare is steep, the fare we’ll owe

So each must do his part

The bus to the fare future leaves

We’re on it or we’re not

We wear our herz upon our sleeves

We pay the fare or rot

But that’s all right, I say okay

When all is said and done

It’s green and we will gladly pay

The price to tame the sun

That prince of light, of flaming hue

Egyptians knew as Ra

Will bend a knee to masters new

Our fare owe, Oba Ma!