Lean, Green Job-Killing Machine

David Brooks on where the jobs aren't. They're aren't in going green.

In his 2008 convention speech, Barack Obama promised to create five million green economy jobs. The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimated in April 2009 that green jobs could account for 10 percent of new job growth over the next 30 years.

Alas, it was not to be. The gigantic public investments in green energy may be stimulating innovation and helping the environment. But they are not evidence that the government knows how to create private-sector jobs.

It doesn't. And apparently, the local oil refining industry, isn't immune from the vicissitudes of the market.