A couple weeks ago I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher and Billionaire Mark Cuban was on the panel. They were having a conversation on revenues and taxation under Clinton, Cuban made an interesting point. During the Clinton era two things greatly helped the economy and our treasury as a whole. First were the slightly higher tax rates, but the other that Cuban brought up was the rise of the internet. This got me thinking, every generation had one innovation or another to help push our economy and the job market, but we don’t have one now. And we very well could.
The 1940’s had the war effort (and later a housing boom); many thought that the two ill-conceived wars we’re in currently would help the economy as it did then. Well that was a bust because in the 40’s we made almost everything right here in the US and the wages in many cases were better compared to today’s (proportionally). Now, many things are outsourced, downsized or those family sustaining wages have been slashed and you can forget about good benefits.
Now the 1950’s saw a massive undertaking in infrastructure all throughout the nation which helped that generation build a foundation for their families to thrive. The decades that followed had their own innovation or investments in the nation and the American worker, but as time went on those investments and innovations started to dwindle. When the 1990’s rolled around and the internet started to take hold in a big way, this was a huge boom for our economy and put the US yet again on the cutting edge. That is until we stopped investing in it and began outsourcing those jobs as well.
But let’s get back to my main point. The last decade is considered a lost decade for many reasons, but in my eyes it’s especially a lost decade because there was no investment in innovation and technology on a large scale. That coupled with two recessions, mass outsourcing and no real job growth. But what is the next job boom? What will help to bring us back from this desperation many of us now feel? Two words, Green Technology.
Several months ago a friend of mine that works with the Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee invited me to a presentation at the office of the Israeli Consulate to the Mid-Atlantic region. The Presenter was Dr. John Byrne who is the Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) and Professor of Energy & Climate Policy at the University of Delaware. Dr. Byrne also shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr. Byrne walked us through a slide show of facts and figures ranging from environmental effects to energy saved to jobs created. Two slides shown really hit home with those of us in attendance. The first was of a small village, I believe outside of Shanghai in 1980. The second was of that village, now a bustling metropolis in 2010, only thirty years later. Do you want to know what is located there? One of the largest solar panel manufacturing plants in the world.
Next Dr. Byrne presented a slide of a photo of some high rise rooftops in Center City Philadelphia. He stated that all these rooftops could easily be fitted with solar panels to collect energy to feed back into the power grid. He then went a step further to say that even more energy savings would be realized if the mechanical systems of those buildings were updated with state of the art energy efficient HVAC and electrical systems. Your largest energy consumer in any instance is the heating and cooling system and every residence and business can benefit tremendously from these upgrades. They save money and conserve energy to lessen the environmental impact and dependence on foreign oil.
So, when you talk green jobs, they’re not all solar panels and wind turbines. The construction industry has quite a bit of potential for green job growth, especially in the mechanical trades. You can also count upgrading the power grid to a smart grid that is efficient and squeezes as much as possible out of the electricity distribution. Yet another green job is building light and regional rail lines that can carry large amounts of passengers to and from work every day cutting down on emissions from motor vehicles. I’ll wager it would save passengers time not being caught in traffic and money on fuel and parking costs as well.
The possibilities really are endless, but we need investment and action, not lip service. We have oil companies that are making record profits, yet are still receiving oil subsidies. How about we take those subsidies and reinvest it in the Green sector with tax credits and grants for businesses and households to install solar panels and wind turbines, upgrade HVAC systems, insulation, windows anything that would lessen their carbon footprint. Give companies that set up green tech manufacturing here in the US tax breaks and startup capital and impose heavier tariffs on companies that manufacture green tech overseas.
Aside from devoting the money to tackle this task, we also have the skills waiting to be tapped. There are so many skilled tradesmen currently out of work it would make your head spin and we’re allowing their talents to go to waste by not moving in this direction. This would have a two pronged effect, it would address the dire jobs crisis we have and conserve money and energy, win-win.
Here’s an effect that would even appease the deficit hawks out there: these added jobs would create more tax revenue to help further pay down our debt. This plan is a winner any way you look at it. If we truly are the most industrious nation in the world, why are so many afraid to take the next step? There is money to be made and saved, along with the added benefits of the use of less fossil fuels. We can do this. We can build it and install it here in America. This is the Jobs Boom that will take us into the future and beyond, because it isn’t just one sector like the internet was. Green jobs stretch across different industries and can provide good paying family sustaining jobs with benefits for generations.
As citizens it is our duty to demand that this new industry grow to its full potential. When it comes to green technology we aren’t just talking about saving the planet, we’re also talking about saving our economy, our country and our local communities and for many it could very well save their homes. This is the most viable option we have and by not taking the steps to allow green technology to flourish, we’re only hurting ourselves and our nation.