Early Retirement Blog

Dear President-elect Obama:

I want a Green Job.  I don’t want more wars, more prisons, or more corporate bailouts.  I want Green Jobs.  Your plan to create 2.5 million Green Jobs is not enough.  The nation has lost 1 million jobs so far this year, our nation has lost millions of good paying jobs through decades of out-sourcing, and we will likely lose millions of jobs next year. Your Green Jobs plan will not make up for the past, present, or future job losses.

What is needed is a much larger investment in the Green economy, one that will create middle class jobs, and strengthen the overall economy by reducing government budget deficits.  The following plan will inject $150 billion per year, ten times the amount of your proposal,  creating 25 million net green jobs over the next 3-5 years, and very importantly reduces annual government deficits by $100 billion.  Here is the plan:

1.  Double the gas tax and generate an additional $38 billion per year in federal revenue.  The price of gas at the pump has dropped $1 per gallon over the last few weeks, and it appears it will continue to decline, consumers will not notice a 17.4 cent additional tax. $30 billion for Green and $8 billion toward budget reduction

2.  End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The American taxpayers spent $188 billion in 2008 on two needless and unpopular wars.  $100 billion to Green and $88 billion to budget reduction. Give all veterans free Green Job training, to avoid repeating the mistake of Vietnam, and flooding our streets and prisons with homeless vets.

3. Cut the prison population in half.  As one of the impacts of out-sourced manufacturing jobs, the prison population has nearly doubled during the Bush administration.  The nation spends $49 billion per year, to house and feed  2.3 million of our fellow citizens, up 76% from 1.3 million in 2000.  Provide Green Job training in prisons, and as a diversion program for non-violent offenders, giving graduates the opportunity to work for the state installing a green infrastructure.  $20 billion per year for Green and $4 billion in debt reduction.

Combined, this plan will generate $150 billion per year towards Green Jobs, and reduce budget deficits by $100 billion.  Economist Robert Pollin, writing in The Nation magazine, estimates that 18 jobs are produced for every $1 million invested in green infrastructure. On the other hand, the military and oil industries, only produce 7.5 jobs for every $1 million spent.

What our nation needs is not a bailout, or tax rebate checks, but a massive investment in Green Energy and infrastructure.  One that will create jobs, strengthen our economy, increase exports, and maintain America’s technological lead.

Sincerely,

John and Jane Q. Public

To send this letter to Barack Obama, click on the green ShareThis button, and enter Obama’s email address: info@BarackObama.com

Then tell your friends to send this letter as well, digg, reddit, stumble upon, do your social networking thing, quantity is critical.  If we can bombard Obama with a mass email campaign, then this plan, the only plan that has a chance of saving the economy and creating jobs will succeed. A few clicks could get you and others good green jobs. To be automatically notified, on updates to this campaign, please subscribe to this blog.

Good Luck, Thank You, and may God not be needed to Save America.