Why is it so expensive to make the choice to go green? This is an important question in a time when the real economy continues to struggle. The Green economy, a highly subsidized market into which the government pours billions of dollars, still seems to produce expensive products with lackluster green attributes.

The Prius, of course, is the product of a Japanese corporation. This is a considerable blow to American auto manufacturers. As what is left of Chrysler and GM struggle to reinvent themselves, they failed to recognize this growing market segment initially.

A similar story can be told across the entirety of American manufacturing to date. Other countries beat the US to installing renewable energy generation on large scales, allowing their manufacturers to step ahead in the market in terms of process, operational efficiency, and ultimately, value.

For Americans to produce competitive widgets in the Green market, it will take infrastructure, which will take investment. Liquidity is still hard to come by in the markets, especially for speculative start ups. But even if the US succeeded in funding its call for a new manufacturing industry, could it compete?

This article is not written to attack the merits of environmental protection – it is clear, that as a people, the human race has managed to take a large dump on Mother Gaia. But is the US in any position to subsidize another losing bet in the manufacturing space?

If Americans continue to buy Green products, they will come from multinational conglomerates. If we make the local grids green, we will create jobs, but the extra greenbacks will again, flow out of the US economy.

Ultimately, this issue reflects the more general idea of value creation in the United States. Now that everyone has realized that a thirty year old house isn’t an infinite ATM machine, it is clear that the country spent too much money it never created in the first place. As the Fed “makes it rain” with fresh dollars, the advancements in Green technology continue to move at a snail’s pace.

At least the banks get their own carbon tax credit market to manipulate in the meantime, right? Oh wait, they don’t pass on their profits either.