What America is against is an articulated, thoughtful, deliberate industrial policy.

When Jimmy Carter was elected president, there was an oil crisis going on. He installed solar panels at the White House and asked for a billion dollar investment in solar power research. He was wrong that the world would soon run out of oil. But he was right that about one-third of America’s trade deficit was in imported oil, that more wars would be fought for it and that the future was solar.

When Ronald Reagan came into office, he got rid of the solar panels. He returned policy to whoever had the most financial clout to buy it. There it has remained, for the most part, ever since.

via Why China, and not the US, is the leader in solar power | USA | Al Jazeera