In the latest Reason, Ronald Bailey comments on the re-birth of subsidized alternative energy and how that worked out the last time the US went down that road.
"In May of [1980], Carter declared, “For the first time in our nation’s history, we will have a national energy program to put us on the road to energy security. It’s more ambitious than the space program, the Marshall plan, and the Interstate Highway System combined.”
"Sound familiar? During the 2008 presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Barack Obama declared almost daily that developing new energy sources and breaking our addiction to foreign oil would “take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy.” He explicitly compared his plan to putting a man on the moon and building the Interstate Highway System."
What about the Marshall Plan? The more things change the more they seem to stay the same.