I know I should stop reading Thomas Friedman's column in the NY Times, but I am incorrigible and, besides, his column is often a convenient example of the muddled thinking which leads to stupid policies. That said, see The Green-Collar Solution in today's paper.
The basic premise (from activist Van Jones) is to use boatloads of taxpayer money to train and hire disadvantaged youth in "weatherizing millions of buildings, putting up solar panels, constructing wind farms". In other words, spend a lot of dough on "do nothing" jobs.
We don't need all that "green" stuff. We should design and build more efficient products, but mostly we need to design and build thermonuclear reactors. We should spend taxpayer dollars on R&D for fusion power, not on training youth to do construction work. Besides, a large part of the construction industry labor comes from illegal aliens, which implies that disadvantaged youth don't want to do that kind of work anyway.
(The best advice today for helping "disadvantaged youth" can be found in "Come on, people : on the path from victims to victors" by Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint.)
Recall that Friedman was one of the biggest cheerleaders for Bush's War on Iraq. We have already spent about $400-$600 billion on Iraq, and will probably spend double that in Iraq before we come to our senses. What a waste. Our military should have had plans to crush Al Qaida after their first series of attacks on us in the 1990's, and we should have had a president on 9/11 who was prepared to execute such plans. Instead, we invade Iraq!
The same mindset was at play in the 1960's and 70's when we invaded Vietnam. Had we instead invested the money in R&D, we would already have had decades of cheap energy, saved a trillion dollars from going to Arab countries for buying oil and funding terrorism, and there would never have been a "Gulf War" in 1991, nor a 9/11 attack on the US, nor an invasion and occupation of Iraq in the 2000's.
But at least we were able to feed the egos of our "war presidents".
Thanks, Tom. I feel better now.
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6 comments:
"boatloads of taxpayer money. . . on 'do nothing' jobs. . . illegal aliens. . .
Please.
Another Bush "Angry White Man" Conservative pretending to be anti-Bush now that the poll numbers for the "Dear Leader" are in the toilet.
Mr. Walker, I understand why some people resort to ad hominem attacks (such as, they can't debate the merits of an idea) but you stooped very low by accusing me of "pretending to be anti-Bush now" that his poll numbers "are in the toilet". I voted for Kerry in the last election, and I have long believed that Bush is the worst President in our history. I do not mind, however, when you call me a conservative, but you should know that that is false.
Mr. Bal, I am sorry if I offended you by accusing you of being a Bushie conservative. As well-informed as you obviously are, you must surely be aware that your original post contained no less than 3 standard Fox News/National Review/Wall Street Journal Bush conservative "talking-points."
Moreover, I didn't read any discussion about the "merits" of the "Green for All" idea, but just an, as you say, ad hominem attack based on hoary stereotypes.
Your views about the war and Mr. Friedman are quite correct. Nevertheless, if you are not a Bushie conservative, then you should reconsider this idea as part of a comprehensive package of things we need to do to get this country out of this mess -- and that's the real national interest.
Mr. Walker, I appreciate your last comment. Still, I want you to know that my views are strictly my own. I do not watch Fox News (I have no "cable" channels), and I do not read or agree with the right-wing Wall Street Journal editorial page (nor do I read the WSJ) or the National Review magazine. Therefore, any similarity between my my views and the cited media are coincidental and not substantive.
I do agree with the goal of a clean environment, but the devil is in the details.
As to your assertion that I made ad hominem attacks, you are incorrect. I did not call anyone names. I attacked the ideas as stupid, but never called anyone stupid. In fact, no doubt Tom Friedman, you, Van Jones, and many in the "green" movement are intelligent and well-intentioned. (I hate to admit it, but that can be said of President Bush, too. But his policies are hideous.)
I sincerely believe that the best way to clean up the environment is to develop viable nuclear fusion technology. I recommend you read "Cool it : the skeptical environmentalist's guide to global warming" by Bjorn Lomborg.
I think liberating Iraq from the mass murderer Saddam was a good idea. I really don't like fascism. Islamic or any other kind.
Mr. Simon, see my new post about Saddam and Iraq. I agree with you about fascism: I don't like it either. In fact, I actually see America as in a war today against Islamic Fascism. Not because of any idealistic urge to rid the world of it, but because they have been at war with us and attacked us several times since the 1990s. Still, invading Iraq was about the dumbest way I can imagine for fighting the Islamists. Saddam was also their enemy!
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