According to the New York times, “A consortium of Chinese and American companies announced a joint venture on Thursday to build a 600-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, using turbines made in China.”

And, “Construction of the $1.5 billion wind farm will be financed largely by Chinese banks, with the help of loan guarantees and cash grants from the United States government.”  That’s interesting, since the US government is likely backing the project with loans and grants funded by money we borrowed from the Chinese in the first place.

But hey, surely some of the product will be build here in the US.  I’ll just go over here to the Houston Chronicle.  OOPS!  “Chinese wind turbine manufacturer A-Power Energy Generation Systems will begin shipping the 2.5-megawatt turbines in March, built in the company’s plant in the city of Shenyang.  A-Power uses technology developed by Germany-based Fuhrlander and Erie, Pa.-based GE Drivetrain Technologies.”

So, does that mean GE Drivetrain Technologies won’t actually be building anything in Erie, PA?  Are the Chinese just paying a license fee or something?  I don’t know, but maybe someone can tell us how many folks, here in United States factories, will be making equipment for this project.

Why do I ask?  Because, “the joint venture also plans to tap into U.S. stimulus funding for alternative energy, said Cappy McGarr, managing partner of U.S. Renewable Energy.”  And we all know how that “tapping into stimulus” thing turned out so far – “More good news from the Wind Energy Sector – “More than eight out of 10 US stimulus dollars spent on wind energy farms have gone to foreign companies”

And you see, the only real mention of jobs is back over at the New York Times piece and they say, “Construction is scheduled to begin in March 2010, and the project is expected to create 300 temporary jobs and about 30 permanent jobs.”

Gee, that’s more permanent jobs than we’re promised for the Pinnacle Knob project in Mineral County, WV.  Oh, did I mention that the US WindForce specs call for Mitsubishi Turbines.  I probably did, but I just can’t get over how little “made in America” means to these folks.

And, for those of you looking to invest in companies developing wind technology, here’s a tip – “Rob Gramlich, the wind energy association’s senior vice president of public policy, said China has put in place aggressive renewable energy targets and is rapidly building up its manufacturing base. He said wind development potential is attracting investors from both within in the U.S. and from overseas.

Denmark is the biggest importer to the U.S., at 28 percent, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. Spain, Japan, Germany and India follow.”  Where’s the US in all this?  “U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told lawmakers that the U.S. was falling behind China and others in alternative energy investment.”

Well, by golly – I say go for it!  If the Chinese make a huge profit from us by selling the contraptions they manufacture in China to us, using our tax dollars to fund them, they’ll have enough left over to lend us more money to buy more of the contraptions.  And, if they can build them fast enough, and we continue to back the loans and provide them grants from the money they loan us, the Chinese can sell us thousands of windmills to plop down all over the United States before someone catches on to the fact that the darned things are worthless.  And, after all, since the Chinese seem to be the only source of available credit, we should want their economy to be healthy.

Gee, I wonder if I can call Bernie Madoff in jail.  I want to make sure I understand all this correctly.