Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis knows the answer the our sluggish economy.
This Labor Day, many people throughout Indiana are struggling just to get by. Families that have played by the rules are being forced into incredibly difficult decisions. Do they pay for their children's college tuition or make that mortgage payment?
These people are on my mind every single day and, like President Obama, I am hard at work ensuring they have a real opportunity to succeed.The recession has caused a generational restructuring of America's labor market, and our future now depends on what we do to retrain and retool for the 21st-century work force.
The Department of Labor already has given $223 million to help meet the needs of workers in Indiana, including Recovery Act funds. Our investments are aimed at training for in-demand jobs in high-growth industries, like energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. Other grants have gone to YouthBuild and youth work- force activities, assistance for dislocated and trade-impacted workers, and career counseling.
Businesses are leaner and more selective about hiring these days. We recognize and are meeting this challenge in many Indiana communities -- and across America -- by helping workers upgrade their skills. People will have the skills they need to get good jobs, and businesses will have the trained employees they need to succeed. That's what I call win-win.
The president is all about protecting the environment and he has a cabinet full of like minded people. Don't get me wrong. We should all be stewards of the economy. Furthermore, if someone wants to make money providing green energy, green jobs, or anything else that's green more power to them.
If they're using their own money, I wish them luck. That's why I like T. Boone Pickens. He's not only championing the green economy but he's putting a significant portion of his seven billion dollars behind it.
The problem here is that the president has a vision of our society, and he's determined to see it transformed into that vision. That's one thing. The problem is that he's determined to use nearly unlimited government resources to accomplish the green economy. That's the government picking winners and losers.
Wind farms like this are popular in some parts of Indiana. That's because the level land makes the area perfect for wind energy. The reality is that most of the U.S. is not fertile for wind energy.
That's the problem with most alternative, or green, energy sources. They are simply not ready for any mass scale usage. Yet, the president and his team are determined to jam the green economy onto the economy no matter how ready it is for it.
To be fair, there are a lot of things that wouldn't be profitable without government subsidies, like pro sports for example.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the government picking winners or losers, who picked the government? The voters. The voters are picking winners or losers. They elected Obama to carry out his vision, and he's doing it. I don't see the big deal.
I'm not sure how sports wouldn't be profitable without subsidies. I think the three major sports are quite profitable with or without subsidies.
ReplyDeleteAs for Obama, I don't think he specified that he would use near unlimited government resources to jam green into our economy.
Well, Mike, how many times does he have to use the phrase "green jobs" before people get it?
ReplyDeleteAs far as sports, almost every stadium in this country is taxpayer subsidized. Just look at that abomination the Marlins are getting in Miami. The NFL owners are mad about revenue sharing because taxpayer financed stadiums have made smaller market teams more profitable than the larger ones who pay into revenue sharing.
I don't know what you mean and sports teams would be very profitable with or without subsidized stadiums. That's usually an extortion racket run by owners against cities. They don't need the stadiums built. They just know that there are plenty of cities that will build one for them. That's a huge difference from Green Jobs which don't make any money.
ReplyDeleteAnd the TampaBay Rays, with a lot of left over lease are saying they want to move to Tampa to get more traffic. Mayor of St Pete says no way! Something about honoring a lease contract....so there is the planned return on the money spent by the city.
ReplyDeleteGreen jobs in Spain? Didn't they kill two non-Green jobs for each one created? In any econmy, that's a bad move for business, and a worse one for the government, which has a net loss of one taxpayer for each new "green job." Even I'm not an economist, and I know that's a bad thing for the long run....for everyone.
Besides: What are we really having to save the planet from? Still being here to be incinerated by the Sun going all Red Giant on us? That presumes we could literally destroy the physical earth, the whole thing...just so the Sun could torch it for the offense of harboring human life.
Being wise with resources? Yes. And there's a lot of that going around, because it makes people MONEY! Let the market figure it out, and you'll find people buy in. Force it down the throats of everyone, with no coherent science supporting the overall strategy...and you'll get push back. Oh, yeah...like is going on now, so we won't be a degree hotter in what? 50 years?