Just another way that government subsidies help the rich get richer.
AFTER EDIT: Yes, I see the downvote, and I'm willing to discuss the facts with you. Do you seriously think Google or anybody would invest in that wind farm without serious government incentives behind the investment? And if the tax-policy-favored investment is in a high-capital physical plant like a wind farm, isn't that an investment that's not easy to make for investors who have little capital? A big wind farm is inherently linked into the power grid, and doesn't help you or me get off the grid.
Some sources that prompt my curiosity about these policies:
The subsidies aren't there to make anyone richer/more equal/etc... They are there to get scales of economy developing in Renewable Energy such that the price comes down.
It's been extraordinarily effective in Solar.
The only rational reason to make these investments as a society is if we believe that Petroleum/Coal/Nuclear based energy has externialities (or present-value-risk-adjusted externialities) - I.E. Climate Change, Pollution, Nuclear Disaster, etc... that exceed the cost of these subsidies.
I've often wondered whether the deaths of Solar Panel installers, Visual/Noise polution of Wind Farms, and environmental havoc resulting from hydro electric facilities are factored into these equations when subsidies are being handed out.
AFTER EDIT: Yes, I see the downvote, and I'm willing to discuss the facts with you. Do you seriously think Google or anybody would invest in that wind farm without serious government incentives behind the investment? And if the tax-policy-favored investment is in a high-capital physical plant like a wind farm, isn't that an investment that's not easy to make for investors who have little capital? A big wind farm is inherently linked into the power grid, and doesn't help you or me get off the grid.
Some sources that prompt my curiosity about these policies:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/business/energy-environmen...
http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/07/news/economy/energy-subsidie...
http://www.economist.com/node/21556904
http://www.economist.com/debate/overview/217
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044365920457757...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044403240457800...
For balance, critiques of other government subsidies for other industries (surely disfavored by Google):
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=making-rene...
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-21/when-it-come...