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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In the news

Here is a video of CPA member Zach Mottl on the Business News Network in Canada.  The issue is Buy America in the stimulus legislation, and the unfair trade practices of our trading partners.