Economy -- Green Recovery Now

September 17, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, and Brad Johnson

ECONOMY

Green Recovery Now

The American economy has been heading in the wrong direction for seven years, as conservatives rewrote the rules of the market to reward corporate excess and to deprive American families of economic opportunity. The wave of toxic debt crashing into Wall Street is but a symptom of the broken economic fundamentals that have made good jobs, good education, and good health care harder to find for most Americans year after year. The Bush administration's exploitation economy has drilled our nation to the benefit of oil companies, multinational corporations, and billionaire speculators, leaving the next administration -- and the next generation of Americans -- with a broken economy and planet to repair. The national response to these crises must be swift and wise, stimulating a green recovery with the renewable resources of innovation, hard work, and clean energy. "Green Recovery," a new report published by the Center for American Progress from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), explains how a $100 billion stimulus over two years would create two million new jobs in a clean energy economy, with a significant proportion in the struggling construction and manufacturing sectors.

GREEN RECOVERY NOW: This $100 billion investment is targeted at six key sectors in building a green economy today: retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency, expanding mass transit and freight rail, constructing smart electrical grid transmission systems and investing in wind power, solar power, and next-generation biofuels. The vast majority of jobs created would be in already-existing trades, from machinists to truck drivers, roofers to engineers. "The point of view of the Steelworkers is quite simple," said Leo Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers of America (USW), introducing the report. "An energy-efficient green economy creates jobs, and creates jobs in America." "We must fundamentally change the way we produce and consume energy and dramatically reduce our dependence on oil," explained Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta. "The economic opportunities provided by such a transformation are vast, not to mention the national security benefits of reducing oil dependence and the pressing need to fight global warming." The Green Recovery program allows Congress to "spend less money than it did on the last economic stimulus package, create more jobs and help stave off catastrophe via climate change." Most of the stimulus goes directly to the private sector, with $50 billion for tax credits and $4 billion for federal loan guarantees. Approximately $46 billion in direct government spending would support public building retrofits, the expansion of mass transit, freight rail, and smart electrical grid systems. This stimulus should be part of a comprehensive low-carbon energy strategy and could be paid for with proceeds from auctions of carbon permits under a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program.

BENEFITS TO THE NATION: As the authors of the report will testify before Congress on Thursday, the greatest benefits of investment in a green economy come to those who have been hardest hit by the pollution-based economy. PERI analyzed the green job potential for 34 states across the nation, finding that states with strong industrial sectors and low-income communities battered by outsourcing and left behind by Wall Street and Washington, can see the strongest gains. "This is an opportunity to help Americans pull themselves out of poverty by investing in the green movement," noted Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN), whose state has lost 16,000 jobs since January. "The price of oil is taking too big a bite out of working families' paychecks and eliminating too many jobs," Bruce Roy, secretary-treasurer of the Maine AFL-CIO, told the Portland Press-Herald. "Putting up a wind farm creates jobs for machinists, truck drivers, electricians and laborers. Making buildings more energy-efficient requires roofers and insulators." In the words of Michigan state representative Mark Meadows, "We have workers who are waiting to go back to work in Michigan, well over 60,000 of them who would benefit from a program like that, because they have the skill sets that are needed to make this work." Forty-three thousand jobs would be created in Missouri, already benefiting from the construction of new wind farms and biodiesel plants. Eighty-six thousand new jobs in Pennsylvania would dramatically cut unemployment. Tony Montana, a spokesman for the USW, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "That potential growth for good, family-supporting jobs when the economy is down and we see our manufacturing jobs leaving the country makes it imperative that we take a long, serious look at green investment and green energy solutions for our future and for future generations."

TAKING ACTION NOW: The impending expiration of federal renewable energy tax credits threatens thousands of American jobs. Declaring, "America needs an oil change," Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) fought back on the floor of the House yesterday against the conservative battle-cry of "Drill, baby, drill!" Last night, the House voted 236-189 in favor of H.R. 6899, an "all of the above" energy bill to invest in renewable energy, raise clean energy standards, and expand oil production, paid for by removing oil company tax loopholes. After a month of complaining that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had put Congress on its standard August recess without a vote on an "all of the above" bill, conservatives made repeated motions to adjourn to prevent the vote from occurring. President Bush joined the opposition, threatening to veto the legislation because it removes oil company subsidies. The fight now moves to the Senate, where conservatives have repeatedly filibustered green recovery legislation. Communities are organizing to tell Congress they are ready for green jobs now, under the leadership of a coalition led by Green For All. On Saturday, Sept. 27, the coalition will launch a national mobilization to say, "I'm ready for the green economy." Green Jobs Now is a National Day of Action that will empower everyday people to stage hundreds of grassroots events throughout the country. Van Jones, founder of Green for All and a Center for American Progress senior fellow, writes, "Right now, there are millions of people ready to work and countless jobs to be done that will strengthen our economy at home."

CIVIL LIBERTIES -- CONSTITUTION DAY BRINGS RECOMITTMENT TO RULE OF LAW INTO FOCUS: On the day before today's Constitution Day -- which celebrates the day the U.S. Constitution was signed, on Sept. 17, 1787 -- a published excerpt of a new book on Vice President Cheney revealed that his chief of staff had in effect forged then-attorney general John Ashcroft's signature in order to authorize warantless wiretapping. The program was just one aspect of Bush's disrespect for the Constitution discussed during yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, which Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) called "a shameful legacy that will haunt our country for years to come." "We glory in the finely calibrated system of separated powers bequeathed us by the framers of the Constitution," the Center for American Progress's Mark Agrast writes in submitted testimony. "Yet the Bush administration has subverted that system by advancing radical and extravagant theories of presidential power. And for the most part, Congress has acquiesced." Agrast said that the next president should make the restoration of the rule of law "an overarching theme of his administration" and work with Congress "to restore public confidence in the rule of law." Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, agreed: "To regain our global standing, the next President and Congress must unambiguously reassert our historic commitments to human rights and the rule of law as a major source of our moral authority."

ADMINISTRATION -- HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT PLAGUED BY FAILED CONTRACTS AND INEFFECTIVE CYBER SECURITY MISSION: The Washington Post reports today that "in the five years since it was created, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has overseen roughly $15 billion worth of failed contracts." The figure represents "a third of the agency's contract spending," according to The Public Record. Projects often "wound up over-budget, delayed or canceled after millions of dollars had already been spent, according to figures and documents prepared by the House Committee on Homeland Security." A panel of experts is scheduled to testify today before the House Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight "on how to fix problems with the DHS acquisitions process." Scott Amey, a lawyer for the Project on Government Oversight, said, "DHS is definitely not the poster child for good contracting or management." Separately, members of a bipartisan commission called the DHS response to cyber security threats "completely ineffective" and recommended that the "mission be given to outside agency." A DHS spokesperson responded by saying that the department needs "more time to get it right," accusing the commission of "political posturing" and playing "shell games."

JUSTICE -- OPRAH CLASHES WITH SEN. COBURN ON LEGISLATION TO PROTECT CHILDREN: On Monday, Oprah Winfrey urged her viewers to contact their senators and ask them to support the Protect Our Children Act (H.R. 3845/S. 1738), which authorizes over $320 million over the next five years for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation. "This is what we want to do. Want to get these guys and put them in jail," said Winfrey of the legislation. "It's going before the U.S. Senate this month. We only have a few days." But the bill is being blocked by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who, in July, successfully derailed the legislation when it was included in the "the so-called Coburn omnibus," a package of nearly 40 uncontroversial bills that extended funding for cancer research and crime prevention. According to the Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "has sent word to Senate Democrats that [he] would like to bring the so-called Coburn omnibus bill to the floor soon, setting up a rematch with the conservative Oklahoma Republican who has often brought the Senate to gridlock."

"Democrats in Michigan are trying to block what they call a Republican effort to deny voting rights to people facing foreclosure," filing "for an injunction to prohibit the GOP from challenging Michigan voters whose homes are on foreclosure lists." The tactic is a form of "voter caging."

President Bush "will not attack Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program before his term ends in January," former Cheney adviser David Wurmser told The Jerusalem Post yesterday. "No, Bush won't go," said Wurmser, adding that "his certainty" had to do with the fact that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice now has "the upper hand in the administration in her struggle with Cheney."

In her first speech since her husband publicly admitted an extramarital affair, Elizabeth Edwards yesterday said she is discouraged that health care may fall lower in the nation's priorities. "We don't want health insurance, we want health care," she said. "Shame on us if we don't take the momentum…and translate it into a policy."

The House voted Tuesday to end the moratorium on new offshore oil drilling. The measure would “let states decide whether to permit energy exploration 50 to 100 miles off their coasts" and "allow drilling 100 miles or more offshore regardless of a state's wishes."

Even in the midst of a trial over concealing more than $250,000 worth of improper gifts, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) continues to rake in earmarks for his state. According to an analysis by The Hill, "Stevens's earmark share in the defense bill is more than $200 million," which includes $10 million for a coal-to-liquids facility and "$2 million for hibernation genomics."

In a dramatic reversal last night, the government seized control of the nation's largest insurer, AIG. The Fed agreed to "lend up to $85 billion to AIG," and "the U.S. government will effectively get a 79.9% equity stake in the insurer." The deal "gives the government broad powers to force the sale of assets, cancel dividend payments to shareholders and replace the chief executive."

"Attackers exploded a vehicle bomb outside the main gate of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen on Wednesday in what appeared to be a well-coordinated assault." The attack killed 16 and is the "second attack against the mission in six months."

"The ozone hole over Antarctica, a doorway for harmful solar radiation, is bigger than last year, a worrying sign to scientists studying global warming," according to the World Meteorological Organization. The "area of atmosphere without ozone has grown to 27 million square kilometers (10.4 million square miles), 8 percent larger than the maximum reached in 2007."

And finally: Gold-medalist Olympian Ryan Lochte joined several federal lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday at a press conference on muscular dystrophy, a disease to which he lost a family member. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) was so excited that he left a luncheon with Vice President Cheney to meet Lochte. "Guess what I'll be telling my wife about when I get home?" he said. At the event, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) admitted that she wasn't a very good swimmer: "I had a little bit of trouble with the deep end in the second grade."

"The Berkeley City Council late Tuesday unanimously approved a program to give city-backed loans to property owners who install rooftop solar-power systems."

THINK PROGRESS: The New York Times's Paul Krugman: Phil Gramm would be "just the guy" to lead us into a Great Depression.

WONK ROOM: Five former U.S. Secretaries of State: "Talk to Iran."

YGLESIAS: Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is disappointed that American schools are "behind Denmark and Finland," but she doesn't seem to consider all the reasons that might be.

COUNTY FAIR: The dishonesty of right-wing media critics.

MASSACHUSETTS: "The number of children in the state living in poverty is increasing, pushing Massachusetts lower in the ranking of states with children in need."

CALIFORNIA: State asks judge to reject seizure of $8 billion for prison health care.

CIVIL RIGHTS: Several groups are working to expand voter registration in U.S. territories overseas.

"Twenty percent of all our oil comes from Alaska."
-- House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), 9/16/08

VERSUS

"The state's share of total U.S. oil production fell from 18 percent in 2005 to 13 percent this year."
-- Washington Post, 9/17/08

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