Can we say, yes we can?
Why does no one talk about one obvious solution to our current economic crisis? We have plenty of money, but it's currently being flushed down the black hole of the Pentagon. (And if you think it's not enough just to reallocate money, then double the size of the green programs! Triple them! How much energy do we want to sell to the rest of the world?)
Ok, Obama transition team, ready for an idea from anywhere to save our economy that has merit? How about this one?
For the next eight years, maintain a military budget 10 percent above any nation that we could conceivably need military defense from in the next decade (say China, at 58 billion or Russia at 50 billion): That puts us at spending, per year, at 65 billion dollars of our budget. That would be the most luxurious military budget in the world, bar no other country.
Take the savings yielded:
$711 000 000 000 (current annual budget)- $65 000 000 000 = $646 000 000 000
Follow me after the jump to see how we can use that
646 billion a year to become the world's energy supplier.
About 68 percent of American households are in homes that they own. There are about 112 million households in the US.
That means there are roughly 75 million homeowners in the USA. Suppose we the people decided to subsidize solar (or wind, etc) systems for anyone who wanted to build one on their home, business, school, or house of worship?
say 10 million a year took the feds up on it, to the tune of 50k per solar system, in the form of a grant/rebate that covers most of the cost for the system and installation (e.g. homeowners could provide 10 percent of the cost for 100 percent of the yeild) :
10 000 000 homes * $50 000 = 500 000 000 000. Yes, five hundred billion a year, with about 14 billion left to work on making a "smart grid" . After 8 years we would have 80 MILLION new 100% clean mini power plants.
Over 8 years of "remainder" cool 14 billion should be more than enough to pay for all we would need to send the energy flowing back for the years of US energy surplus to commence.
Do you imagine that would increase the chances that manufacturing of solar cells would plummet?
Do you think that this strategy would actually make our country much more secure (one small example, where does the enemy strike to knock out our power?) than 8 more years of the same stockpiling of secret weapons and programs?
Do you think it might just help make the ever problematic middle east a little less strategically important for our country's future wellbeing (our desperate need for energy anywhere we can get it)?
Do you doubt that we would become the world leader in manufacturing of solar/wind/green energy equipment and innovation to export to the world?
Do you think every householder would have a much more intimate knowledge of how much energy they use each day after becoming a producer (that could even sell back energy not used?)
Do you think our children would be healthier having clean energy sources around instead of nuclear waste, soot in the air, runoff in the groundwater, from current practices?
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Yet why are we not expecting this rational move from our new administration we worked so hard to elect?
Remember, we could still handsomely pay all of our soldiers. We can still take care of our obligations to our vets (another agency budget-Veteran's Affairs) and nuke maintenance (another agency budget- Dept of Energy). We still would have huge budgets for intelligence and spying. We STILL would have the BIGGEST military budget in the world.
Would this be going "soft"?
No, this would take tremendous courage. To propose such a thing, Obama would be playing a dangerous game against powerful people. One day, I pray that this man, or someone from my children's generation will finally have the audacity to challenge this status quo. As General Eisenhower warned:
The military-industrial complex needs to be weaned with a rich substitue, or else new major problems would surface for this economy based on weapons. Why not a green energy-industrial complex instead?
And no, I'm not saying that this would be the be-all-end all idea, necessarily limiting homeowners to this windfall, spending most of this freed cash on solar/wind vs. electric car manufacturing/subsidies, etc. But this IS one straightforward route to becoming energy independent and having long-lasting positive effects on our economy and future for our children and grandchildren.
Yes we can?