In a speech given during a visit to a Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin battery plant on Monday, President Barack Obama predicted that the nation’s manufacturing and industry would be a primary source of economic growth and that the policies his administration is putting in place would create 800,000 jobs in the next two years.
“Our commitment to clean energy … [is] going to help lay the foundation for lasting economic growth,” Obama proclaimed at Wisconsin-based ZBB Energy’s main facility [AMEX: ZBB]. The Company designs, develops, manufactures and distributes energy storage systems and solutions based on their zinc-bromine rechargeable electrical energy storage and power management technologies.
The president also targeted Republicans for stymieing the Democrats’ policies in Congress. Attempting to pin the tail of economic woe on the GOP, he claimed that the party has “made the political calculation that it’s better to stand on the sidelines than work as a team to help American businesses and American workers.”
The President didn’t go into detail about what sort of policy changes might result in such massive growth, but the administration’s strong continuing interest in green jobs and the renewable energy sector may offer some clues as to what direction he might be heading. The massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earmarked billions of dollars for these industries in the form of tax credits grants and loans, something the previous administration declined to support as readily.
As we near the midterm elections the White House’s will undoubtedly point toward growth in these sectors as signs of recovery in an economy that has been plagued by a weak pulse since the current recession began 2 years ago. True to this line of thinking, the president proudly noted in his Wisconsin speech “we’ve now added private-sector jobs for seven months in a row.” Hopefully, his current commitment to producing green collar and renewable energy jobs will begin to pay off for American workers struggling with high unemployment in other industries.
Hydrogen gas production from hydrocarbons,
water, and sea water is the future for America’s clean energy program.
Obama is on the right track by providing increased loans and tax breaks to small businesses. Small businesses are the life-blood of the economy directly responsible for over 70 percent of the jobs out there.
I believe President Obama is also correct in focusing on, and highly supporting the clean/green energy sector. Our dependence on foreign oil has simply got to end. If we continue sending hundreds of billions to Arab nations rather than keeping that money here in our countries energy sector, we will be writing our own epitaph. Why not invest in green energy sources and get our nation actually producing hard goods again. If all goes as planned, this go-round our manufacturing prowess will be in the form of solar panels, electric cars and drive trains and wind turbines rather than new houses and electronic consumer products.
The good thing here is that by doing this it kills two or three birds with one stone. Concurrently, alternative energy development will help grow jobs and rid our nation improve its air quality, reduce greenhouse gases and stop sending the hundreds of billions of dollars to hostile nations. We can then free up all of this capital for further reinvestment into additional job creation. Seems like a win-win situation all the way around.
Let’s face it, solar, wind, electric cars and other forms of renewable energy and transportation are the wave of the future. If we don’t lead the way, China or other nations will.
Read my Job Sector blog at http:/www.jobservicehelp.com
It’s a good temporary fix, but doesn’t do anything for the long term. Economics 101 tells us that stimulating demand is the best way to go about creating green jobs. Making it cheaper for consumers to buy green products (e.g. solar panels or wind turbines) creates jobs all the way down the chain, from local installers and resellers to big manufacturing.
See my website post for more info:
http://www.thegreenjobbank.com/forum/green-jobs/how-can-we-stimulate-the-creation-of-green-jobs.