SUBSIDIES FOR CRONIES: Walter Russell Mead: Obscene Green Gold Rush Embarasses the New York Times.

Advocates of industrial policy have been pointing to ‘smart subsidies’ for green technology as proof that government can function as an effective venture capitalist, directing subsidies effectively toward ‘sunrise’ industries.

We will probably be hearing less of those claims now as the public digests the massive excess, failure and fraud that have turned the Obama administration’s green subsidy program into a symbol of good intentions gone awry. It turns out public policy is hard, and not every green minded NGO apparatchik is very good at hard things.

Alternatively, it was all just an excuse to shovel cash out to benefit cronies and supporters, who would then recycle some of it back into campaign donations for 2012.