President Obama is expected to seek another $250 billion or so in new stimulus funds next week, with plenty of money for clean energy and the creation of so-called green jobs.It really doesn't matter any more, but it makes a great story. $250 billion for solar won't create many jobs between now and the 2012 election. And with the US now $10 trillion in debt, another $250 billion doesn't really matter. But it will play well for the president's base.
Never mind that no one can seem to find many Americans who got green jobs as a result of the original stimulus spending. Consider two stories.
In the 2009 stimulus, the feds gave nearly $3.2 million in green-energy grants to my county of Arlington, Va., with almost $300,000 used to install solar paneling on the roof of our local library.
From Carpe Diem, quoting the article:
For every two cents of tax subsidies for 'Big Oil,' wind and solar get nearly $1. The environmentalists are for any energy source.... except those that actually work.
$10 trillion is just the public debt ($10,058,384,678,037.32 as of 09/01/2011).
ReplyDeleteTotal debt outstanding as of 09/01/2011 was $14,697,414,789,563.40
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
;)
Hi, thanks.
ReplyDeleteYes, when I saw the "$10 trillion" quote, I thought I remembered a "$14 trillion," but I've lost the bubble on the debt. As noted above, I've grown weary of debt stories (probably what the folks in Washington are hoping -- that everyone grows weary of the debt stories), and trying to get back to stories on shovel-ready jobs that don't require taxpayer money, but just a rollback of regulations that stymie growth and development.