About those green jobs... Where is the market?

a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203075.html?hpid=artslot"Washington Post:/abr /br /blockquoteDetermined not to sink along with other links in the auto supply chain, family-run Dowding Industries borrowed $12 million to leap into the green future and leave the dirty assembly line behind.br /br /p Almost two years later, Dowding has built the plant and bought the machines to make parts for wind turbines, providers of clean energy intended to help the country become less reliant on foreign oil. But so far Dowding has found little demand. /p pInstead, Dowding's big new machines are making a 35-foot-long, 20-ton steel part for a high-powered water jet system used to cut disposable diapers, brownies and even steel. The plant is running, but hardly at a level they expected. /p p"We've never stepped out this far," Chris Dowding, the chief executive of the 44-year-old company, said of borrowing the $12 million. "It is scary and frustrating that the market isn't there yet. You're banking 40 years of your life on a new deal. Everything we have is now highly leveraged because of this new business." /p pShe compares it to a kid getting a graduate degree. "You're proud of the accomplishment, but when the economy is bad all you're thinking is he just needs a job. That's us. We just need a job." /p pHere in Eaton Rapids, a town of 5,200, many residents work in auto and auto parts plants in and around the nearby state capital of Lansing and they have an intimate view of the industry's struggle. The Dowding family and dozens of businesses that once thrived by supplying the Big Three American automakers are trying desperately to adapt. /p pThey are doing exactly what economic development officials and politicians hoped they would. Some are trying to produce parts for medical equipment. Others are switching to aerospace and defense. But it's harder than many expected. Expense, time and a hostile economy can clobber even the most well-thought-out move to a new business line.br //pp...br //pbr //blockquotePerhaps they should have gone into the construction of offshore rigs, but no the Democrats are not going to support that kind of energy. There are fewer supporters for the wind business either at this point. Even in the UK which is goofy for global warming the companies making wind turbines are shutting down. br /br /They should have gone into the magic energy business. That appears to be what the Democrats are counting on.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5051247-7958369440405015647?l=prairiepundit.blogspot.com'//div

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