Letter: Green energy must win the market

Most people want environmentally neutral energy to succeed, and the jobs that it produces (when it does produce them) to be plentiful ["Optimistic about green jobs," Letters, March 16].

What most people don't want is the government involved in the private sector, picking winners and losers through the "investment" of tax dollars. The government has a lousy track record in such matters, and millions -- perhaps billions -- of tax dollars have been wasted when the government decides that, like father, it "knows best."

Look at Solyndra Inc.! This company was given money while it was collapsing. And what did it do with the money? It built a big fancy plant it no longer needs because it is extinct.

For green energy to succeed, it must compete in the marketplace. Only then will there be any cause for optimism.

Valerie H. Protopapas, Huntington Station