In his news conference on Tuesday President Obama  explained that his budget proposal contains "a whole bunch of stuff" aimed at improving the grim employment outlook. This bunch of stuff includes infrastructure proposals such as mass-transit projects and bullet trains, which the president claims "would create millions of jobs around the country." He also places hope in research and development that will "have the potential for creating job growth in, you know, industries of the future."

This is little more than rehashing of the "winning the future" (a.k.a. WTF) theme that made its debut in last month's state of the union speech. Mr. Obama's budget remarks echoed his longing for a "Sputnik moment," and like that early Soviet satellite, this massive spending proposal is unlikely to survive as it begins its descent to planet Earth.

His plan is devoted to propping up an allegedly emerging industry. Mr. Obama has pushed programs for green energy, green technology and green jobs, all of which end up in the red. Mr. Obama's vision of the future is filled with super magnets, everlasting batteries, carbon-fiber windmills and shiny solar panels. These items share several common features. They tend not to be profitable, they don't live up to the promises of the corporate-insider proponents and in many cases are not really green at all. They simply trade one set of environmental challenges for another.