You have to believe trade deficits are a bad thing to think that our dependence on foreign oil is also a bad thing and therefore a drain on our economy.
I don't care about our dependence on foreign oil because I know trade deficits are a fabricated concern.
What your proposing will hurt the bottom line (the economy) and you don't have to say it, we already know.
Replacing cheap, efficient, reliable, plentiful sources of electricity with expensive, inefficient, unreliable alternatives, paid for at taxpayer expense, isn't a recipe for economic prosperity.
Politicians love to blow money on pet projects like that because it gives them something to brag about when running for re-election, "I helped fund our new smart-grid", he just leaves off the part about how the taxpayer foots the bill and he takes all the credit.
Where do you think Taxpayer money comes from anyway? It's taxed OUT of the economy. Taking money out of the economy doesn't grow the economy, it shrinks the economy. Ergo, funding massive projects on the taxpayers dime hurts the economy.
Government only "assists" because politicians want to be seen as helping their districts. If they didn't think spending money on these kind of projects didn't help them to get re-elected, they would spend it somewhere else where they thought it would help them.
This mantra about our energy being a matter of national security has only recently come into vogue because politicians on both sides saw it as way to sway the public into supporting pet projects.
I'd rather have the reliability and efficiency of privately owned utilities. Paying taxes to help operate a public utility and then also paying a monthly bill from the same public utility supported by my taxes is something I'll leave to people with too much money.
