Green the bailout
#1
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Green the bailout
Let's hope that the bailout does what it's supposed to-- rescue the financial system from meltdown. But at best the bailout is an emergency response to a sudden crisis. It won't do much to make the fundamental changes in our economy that just about everybody agrees are necessary.
Lately a lot of people are saying that we can best make these changes if we start making massive investments in green projects, especially alternative energy and cleaner transportation. I guess there were even rallies in some cities about greening the bailout, or changing the bailout into a buildup. Barack Obama and even John McCain have been talking about some of these ideas throughout the campaign.
Thomas Friedman of the NY Times has been one of the most influential and respected writers who are calling for a green bailout. Here are excerpts from his column last week:
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Lately a lot of people are saying that we can best make these changes if we start making massive investments in green projects, especially alternative energy and cleaner transportation. I guess there were even rallies in some cities about greening the bailout, or changing the bailout into a buildup. Barack Obama and even John McCain have been talking about some of these ideas throughout the campaign.
Thomas Friedman of the NY Times has been one of the most influential and respected writers who are calling for a green bailout. Here are excerpts from his column last week:
.
Many things make me weep about the current economic crisis, but none more than this brief economic history: In the 19th century, America had a railroad boom, bubble and bust. Some people made money; many lost money. But even when that bubble burst, it left America with an infrastructure of railroads that made transcontinental travel and shipping dramatically easier and cheaper....
The early 21st century saw a boom, bubble and now a bust around financial services. But I fear all it will leave behind are a bunch of empty Florida condos that never should have been built, used private jets that the wealthy can no longer afford and dead derivative contracts that no one can understand.
Worse, we borrowed the money for this bubble from China, and now we have to pay it back — with interest and without any lasting benefit....
...[W]e don’t just need a bailout. We need a buildup. We need to get back to making stuff, based on real engineering not just financial engineering. We need to get back to a world where people are able to realize the American Dream — a house with a yard — because they have built something with their hands, not because they got a “liar loan” from an underregulated bank with no money down and nothing to pay for two years. The American Dream is an aspiration, not an entitlement.
Our economy is like a car...and the financial institutions are the transmission system that keeps the wheels turning and the car moving forward. Real production of goods that create absolute value and jobs, though, are the engine.
Indeed, when this bailout is over, we need the next president — this one is wasted — to launch an E.T., energy technology, revolution with the same urgency as this bailout. Otherwise, all we will have done is bought ourselves a respite, but not a future. The exciting thing about the energy technology revolution is that it spans the whole economy — from green-collar construction jobs to high-tech solar panel designing jobs. It could lift so many boats.
In a green economy, we would rely less on credit from foreigners “and more on creativity from Americans,” argued Van Jones, president of Green for All, and author of the forthcoming “The Green Collar Economy.” “It’s time to stop borrowing and start building. America’s No. 1 resource is not oil or mortgages. Our No. 1 resource is our people. Let’s put people back to work — retrofitting and repowering America. ... You can’t base a national economy on credit cards. But you can base it on solar panels, wind turbines, smart biofuels and a massive program to weatherize every building and home in America.”
The Bush team says that if this bailout is done right, it should make the government money. Great. Let’s hope so, and let’s commit right now that any bailout profits will be invested in infrastructure — smart transmission grids or mass transit — for a green revolution. Let’s “green the bailout,” as Jones says, and help ensure that the American Dream doesn’t ever shrink back to just that — a dream.
The early 21st century saw a boom, bubble and now a bust around financial services. But I fear all it will leave behind are a bunch of empty Florida condos that never should have been built, used private jets that the wealthy can no longer afford and dead derivative contracts that no one can understand.
Worse, we borrowed the money for this bubble from China, and now we have to pay it back — with interest and without any lasting benefit....
...[W]e don’t just need a bailout. We need a buildup. We need to get back to making stuff, based on real engineering not just financial engineering. We need to get back to a world where people are able to realize the American Dream — a house with a yard — because they have built something with their hands, not because they got a “liar loan” from an underregulated bank with no money down and nothing to pay for two years. The American Dream is an aspiration, not an entitlement.
Our economy is like a car...and the financial institutions are the transmission system that keeps the wheels turning and the car moving forward. Real production of goods that create absolute value and jobs, though, are the engine.
Indeed, when this bailout is over, we need the next president — this one is wasted — to launch an E.T., energy technology, revolution with the same urgency as this bailout. Otherwise, all we will have done is bought ourselves a respite, but not a future. The exciting thing about the energy technology revolution is that it spans the whole economy — from green-collar construction jobs to high-tech solar panel designing jobs. It could lift so many boats.
In a green economy, we would rely less on credit from foreigners “and more on creativity from Americans,” argued Van Jones, president of Green for All, and author of the forthcoming “The Green Collar Economy.” “It’s time to stop borrowing and start building. America’s No. 1 resource is not oil or mortgages. Our No. 1 resource is our people. Let’s put people back to work — retrofitting and repowering America. ... You can’t base a national economy on credit cards. But you can base it on solar panels, wind turbines, smart biofuels and a massive program to weatherize every building and home in America.”
The Bush team says that if this bailout is done right, it should make the government money. Great. Let’s hope so, and let’s commit right now that any bailout profits will be invested in infrastructure — smart transmission grids or mass transit — for a green revolution. Let’s “green the bailout,” as Jones says, and help ensure that the American Dream doesn’t ever shrink back to just that — a dream.
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Last edited by Roody; 10-06-08 at 07:00 PM.
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I thought the bailout included 150 billion in tax breaks for energy technologies.
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#3
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So the bailout is already a little bit green. Greenish, I guess....
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#4
In the right lane
There are a couple of large infrastructure projects in the works that will help create some of those jobs. New Jersey just signed up for a 346 megawatt offshore wind farm. There are a number of these projects on the table on the US Atlantic coast... all of which are looking for a little financial incentive.
Another big green project (like the railroad) might be the construction of a "low loss energy grid". James Hansen speaks about this as being one of the essential elements in keep climate change in check in future generations. This would apparently be a big project in the US.
One of the problems with these bailout add-ons is that they are likely to go the way of a lot of Bush projects (remember the Bush initiative on AIDS in Africa?)
Another big green project (like the railroad) might be the construction of a "low loss energy grid". James Hansen speaks about this as being one of the essential elements in keep climate change in check in future generations. This would apparently be a big project in the US.
One of the problems with these bailout add-ons is that they are likely to go the way of a lot of Bush projects (remember the Bush initiative on AIDS in Africa?)
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Unfortunatly 800 billion won't even scratch the problem.. Last figures I saw was 80 Trillion in bad paper out there... Looks like were in for some tough times... Especially when the bandits that caused the problem (both partys) are the ones dolling out our tax dollars to there cronies... Fox news said tonight that a week after the bailout of AIG the bress went on a 400 thoudand dollar juncket to celibrate... Very depressing...