Think about this number $125 million. Just how many families making $75,000 a year would have to donate their entire income to the federal government so that this idiocy can take place? Try 1666 (I’ll round down instead of up). So consider a whole neighborhood of 1666 houses with families each making that much and then consider that all their economic action would be wasted.And then the government would have to steal more money from hard working people to support these 1666 families. Its never presented in quite that straightforward a way – but that’s what it comes down to.Just how many “Green pathways out of poverty” will actually be created? I’m sure that all this money will go to a bunch of people who can throw around “green” language and suck all the funds from some gullible bureaucrat. But if even 1 job is created it won’t be done by green seminars on how to get poor people to install solar panels.
And what’s worse? $125 million is now the floor under which a whole edifice of “green” spending will occur – each year wasting the economic output of more and more families.
| the 2007 Energy Bill did contain one surprise piece of legislation |
| The Green Jobs Act, passed as part of the Energy Bill, commits the federal government to funding job training for 35,000 people a year to work in environmentally-friendly fields. |
| The Act allocates $125 million yearly for green job training programs all over the USA. Of that: |
| $25 million will be allocated to create “green pathways out of poverty,” i.e. job training for low-income people in fields like solar power installation and green roofing. |
| $80 million for “just transitions” – green job re-training, for example teaching construction workers competency in green construction techniques. |
| $20 million for renewal energy and energy efficiency research |
| showing that it is possible to achieve economic growth thorough protecting the environment |
| The law is the first to link social justice with environmentalism in this way on the national level |
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Colorado Right 
Lets play with numbers a bit more. The construction industry employed over 7,600,000 people in 2006. It is expected that it will grow over 10% in the next ten years. So lets be conservative and say that perhaps 100 people will gain employment from this program. They will enter the construction industry as specialists in a market where demand is growing greatly, partly due to independent consumer interests, but also due to federal and state incentives for energy efficiency.
If 100 people are employed and make $30,000 per year, then in 20 years their combined income will be $60,000,000. Thats a considerable amount, though not quite enough to cover the program, but hey, those 100 people won’t be paying for it any more exclusively than your 1666…
I hate it when people throw around green language and suck up profits too, but that doesn’t make this a terrible program. How else should we try to help those in need? If training isn’t best, then consider the alternatives. Hand outs? Worthless jobs?
: ) I like your blog and don’t mean to be a lefty critic, but I think training legislation is a good middle ground between liberals wanting to help out and conservatives wanting people to help themselves, not to be too simplistic.
Aloha, nice post and interesting perspectives. I think times have changed a bit. Not all of the funds will as you say, “go to a bunch of people who can throw around “green” language and suck all the funds from some gullible bureaucrat.”
Some of us are helping in what you might even consider to be a conservative manner. We are connecting the dots between employer needs and education and we’re doing it with a green focus. Which just means that we’re not focused on training folks how to harm the environment.
Let’s face it, the traditional school system needs help. Especially when it comes to new technology training and preparing anyone to become a green collar technology worker.
For example, we’d really like to teach people to to use the web to sustain themselves given our geographic isolation.
hey, it’s your blog and we’ll fight for you to have your opinion but we may not be a “green” as you might think.
It’s not too late to outline your own ideas to help and our site is always open for the discussion.
Keep on keepin on…
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