Green jobs or green trade deficit PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stumo   
Monday, 29 June 2009

Green jobs are sure fine to pursue.  But recognize that they don't just appear like those non-existent benefits predicted by the wacko free traders.

Remember the free traders said we don't need a plan, we just need free trade.  If we lose low-tech jobs, we will move up the food chain to high-tech jobs.  That was not true.  It was false.  We have deficits and offshoring in all categories.

The Administration promotes green jobs.  We have a trade deficit in the "green" sector.  The New America Foundation shows a green trade deficit of $8.9 billion in 2008.

Green investment is a major pillar of the president's economic recovery plan.  Yet, America's dependence on foreign countries to produce green technologies may undermine this recovery strategy.  Using a list of green goods derived from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), we have determined that the United States ran an overall green trade deficit of -$8.9 billion in 2008, including a deficit of -$6.4 billion in the critical category of renewable energy, one of the main targets of the Obama administration's green agenda.  The U.S. economy also suffered a significant deficit in the pollution management category.  On the positive side, the United States ran modest surpluses in two categories--energy efficiency and a grouping of other environmental goods related to water purification and sustainable agriculture. 

That deficit won't change without an overall plan to fix our trade deficit.

 

 
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