CARROLL: Electric shock
By Vincent Carroll, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published September 26, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
In the past few days, Americans learned how important functioning credit markets are to the health of the economy. In the next few years they will learn how important an adequate electricity system is as well.
It will be a similarly unpleasant revelation.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden's rejection of coal plants during a campaign stop in Ohio this week - the bumbling Biden even claimed, erroneously, that the Obama ticket was "not supporting clean coal" - is being treated as a gaffe. But it wasn't, really. Biden's attitude precisely reflects a growing consensus among politicians on the environmental left regarding the future of power supplies in America. No more coal plants. Period. End of story.
Some argue against any more fossil fuel plants at all, while others see natural gas as a needed bridge as wind and solar energy are brought on line. But as recent articles in both The New York Times (Sept. 23) and The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 13) make clear, this attitude entails a huge gamble. It simply isn't likely that renewables will take up the slack in time.
If California energy agencies have their way, utilities will have to produce a third of their power from clean-energy sources by 2020 even though, the Journal reports, "the portion of renewable energy California consumes has actually been droppping, from 14 percent in 2003 to 12.7 percent last year."
"Setting such an ambitious target is risky," the Journal adds. "It could compel state regulators to approve numerous renewable energy development projects which later turn out not to be feasible or economically viable."
This is an understatement. Under such pressure, future fiascos will be approved.
Here in Colorado, the Public Utilities Commission last month issued a decision on Xcel Energy's plans that seems to confirm suspicions that it will never allow another coal plant to be built.
If Americans are lucky, this political force-feeding of renewables will boost the price of electricity by, oh, 30 percent or more without disrupting supplies.
But that is only if we're lucky.
College is but one option
"Basically you're saying people shouldn't go to college," my 15-year-old son said after reading a recent column of mine pointing out that college graduates do not in fact earn an average of $1 million more than high school graduates, despite the wide circulation of that figure. The actual differential is slightly less than half of that in today's dollars, and probably a good deal less.
Now, $400,000 is still a pretty good premium for a college education - it's just not the dazzling one that those who seem to favor universal college education have invented. And remember, it's an average. There are plenty of people whose college diploma is indeed worth its weight in gold.
I'm old-fashioned enough to think that maybe the current emphasis on post-college earnings is misplaced in any event. And I was happy to learn that at least one University of Colorado regent seems to agree.
"Part of my argument, over the last few years, has been if we're tying a college degree to earning potential then why don't we call ourselves a trade school?" regent Tom Lucero told me. "If our goal is preparing students for the job market then let's drop the charade and focus on career development much like [the University of] Phoenix.
"If, on the other hand, we're in the business of a well-rounded education, then let's define our core competencies and focus on the well-rounded student."
Besides, the emphasis on average monetary payoff misses some important subtleties. As Charles Murray points out in the current issue of The American magazine, "The income for the top people in a wide variety of occupations that do not require a college degree is higher than the average income for many occupations that require a B.A."
Consider a young man, Murray explains, who "has the ability to become an excellent electrician and can reasonably expect to be near the top of the electricians' income distribution" but who "does not have it in him to be an excellent manager, because he is only average in interpersonal . . . ability and modestly above average in academic ability." This fellow would very likely make more as an electrician (no college requirement) than in white-collar management (college required).
So, am I saying people shouldn't go to college? Wouldn't dream of it. But I am saying we should stop telling our young people that college is their only rational choice.
Vincent Carroll is editor of the editorial pages. Reach him at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.
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September 26, 2008
7:05 a.m.
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vudumom writes:
I know alot of people in the trades. Electricians, carpenter's, tile installer's, plumber's etc... All of them make alot more money than people with a college degree. One thing people don't take into consideration is... People in the trades rarely have to pay for house repairs. They often barter their services or do it themselves. The savings over a lifetime is huge. If you don't think so just look at your last repair bill for plumbing or how much did you spend remodeling or finishing the basement?
People pay huge amounts of money and go into debt for years and years to get a piece of paper that in no way gaurantees them a living wage. If that's for you great , go for it. I do think it is time to stop looking down our noses at people in the trades. These people work hard for what the earn too.
September 26, 2008
7:25 a.m.
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taoistblockhead writes:
Americans have a choice - Validate the fear-mongering Shock and Awe Economic and Military Terrorist Tactics of the current Unitary Executive and vote for a continuation of the Right Wing Rovian Fascist Agenda with the biggest joke ticket ever, i.e. McCain and Palin ...
Or Wake Up and vote Obama/Biden and move the nation forward.
Wrap yourself in the flag or restore rule by law and the Constitutional Republic.
September 26, 2008
7:56 a.m.
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yaakovwatkins writes:
Carrolls point of view is especially validated by the fact that a 4 year degree from a private university, (which many students take 5 years to get) can cost $50,000 a year which works out to $250,000 for that degree.
If on the other hand, we take Lucero's point of view that the goal of a university is to produce intellectually well rounded graduates, then perhaps we should insist that the faculty at state run schools be intellectually well rounded and diverse rather than representing a narrow segment of society.
September 26, 2008
9:13 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
I'm enjoying Mr. Carroll's columns more and more, although I almost always take issue with some of his liberal-bashing. In this column, I just have to point out that I am not aware of a leftist conspiracy to halt all coal plants right this second.
As for the second part of his column, I agree we place too much emphasis on a college degree. While I am glad I got one, it did put me in debt, and on second thought, I wish I'd chosen a different major. At the time, I chose my major strictly based on which one would be most practical from a career point of view. Now I wish I'd followed my heart and gone with one that was closer to my true dreams.
When my son (still a baby now) is 18, I hope to encourage him to take a year off and travel before making such important decisions that will effect him for years to come. College is but one option, I agree. What's more, there are different options in colleges that we don't always consider. There are many fine alternative colleges out there that have unique programs, like socially-responsible business, green industry, and so on.
September 26, 2008
9:24 a.m.
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ItsJustme writes:
Wow, Taoist..., cut and paste and cut and paste and cut and paste in every blog. Do you have anything like an original argument that supports your opinion? Can you frame it in a logical sequence or are you just going to spend your time parroting the same old same old over and over and over and over? (Gets monotonous, doesn't it?)
September 26, 2008
11:57 a.m.
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P_Denver writes:
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but -- hasn't the current economic mess been completely designed, approved, implemented, and monitored, by college graduates? All of the congressmen, senators, CEO's, etc.?
Not exactly a sterling recommendation for higher education, eh?
September 26, 2008
1:55 p.m.
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Elwood writes:
P_Denver,
Sure they are smart, look at their retirement/golden parachute packages. They may have caused great loss and poverty, but they escaped it themselves.
September 27, 2008
8:58 a.m.
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taoistblockhead writes:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/nod...
Ron Paul: Greenspan, Bernanke Should Be Criminally Charged - Congressman says civil unrest after meltdown could lead to martial law
Congressman Ron Paul says that the bailout bill is likely to pass, heralding a 10-year plus economic depression for America and the potential for martial law should civil unrest arise as the financial meltdown worsens.
Speaking on The Alex Jones Show, Paul said of the bailout, “They want dictatorship, they want to pass all the penalties and suffering on to the average person on Main Street,” adding, “We will have a depression or recession, it’s locked in place due to previous Federal Reserve actions.” ......
Paul said that Americans had to accept a new idea of government that harked back to what the founders envisaged and that the welfare state would have to unravel along with aspirations of building a geopolitical empire.
September 27, 2008
11:30 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
P_Denver writes: "Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but -- hasn't the current economic mess been completely designed, approved, implemented, and monitored, by college graduates? All of the congressmen, senators, CEO's, etc.?"
Ha ha! Good point, P_Den!
September 28, 2008
7:50 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Mytwosense,
Al Gore is calling for sabotaging construction of coal-fired power plants. He's public with it: http://www.reuters.com/article/enviro...
Half my graduating high school class went to college, half went to work or to the military. Of 323, only about ten college graduates have an income superior to the incomes, especially of the military-trained graduates. Many of the liberal educated lost their marketing jobs with no-call. A trade school proved to be the better decision for this group.
September 28, 2008
7:52 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
http://www.reuters.com/article/enviro...
Try that once again.
September 28, 2008
7:53 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
The full url won't post. Google: "Gore, civil disobedience, Reuters."
September 29, 2008
12:17 p.m.
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spencerr writes:
On the other hand, if you go to an engineering college, you will make much more than most everyone else who either does not have a college degree or who has a lib. arts degree. Go to Mines or CU at Boulder and major in engineering, and you will be comfortable for the rest of your life.
Not to mention, any undergraduate degree can get you into law school, and most science degrees give you a decent shot at medical school.
And the one thing that a liberal arts degree does offer (usually), is betterment of writing skills. There are plenty of jobs out there for various types of writers, but you have to have the basic ability first.
September 29, 2008
12:29 p.m.
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spencerr writes:
mytwosense,
Regarding your Sept. 26 9:13 post,
I also wish that I had chosen a different major (and I was quite in debt also when I finished too). All I knew when I graduated from high school was that I didn't want to be relegated to a life of retail or food industry work. So I went to college, but I was so naive about the world and what it offers that I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Because of a perceived amount of ease at the time, I settled on two interests, history and English. Six years after having earned my degree, I wish that I had chosen economics or one of the hard sciences. I would love to be a doctor or a PhD economics prof. now, but I was too young to go the right direction with my education (I have a M.A. in economics, but the strong point of my knowledge is the theoretical, as opposed to the applied statistics and math, and I don't have the background in math to continue on to get my PhD in economics because I missed out on a lot of the undergraduate math).
While I will probably encourage my children to take a year or two off after high school, I will also dedicate their childhoods to teaching them about all a post-secondary education has to offer.
I thought I was limited to arts and sciences at first, not understanding the value of an engineering degree. I also didn't put any thought into possible careers. Like I said, now I wish I was a PhD or an MD, but I did not take my education the right direction.