News & Comment

The United States created the solar cell industry and literally launched it into space 50 years ago. Solar PV is going to be one of the largest job-creating industries of the century, projected to grow “from a $20 billion industry in 2007 to $74 billion by 2017” (see “Invented here, sold there”). read more »

It’s not rocket science to create decent and useful jobs, (although it does go beyond the current cranial capacity of the U.S. Senate). It’s obvious that we desperately need to repair our infrastructure, increase our energy efficiency, generate more renewable energy, and invest in educating our young. We need millions of new workers to do all this work–right now. Our government has all the money and power (and yes, borrowing capacity) it needs to hire these workers directly or fund contractors and state governments to hire them. Either way, workers would get the jobs, and we would get safer bridges and roads, a greener environment, better schools, and a brighter future all around. So what are we waiting for? read more »

While "zombie economists" keep repeating free trade, free trade, free trade, the US is losing ground in the clean energy market to countries like Germany, which created its own market before it was cost efficient, AFL-CIO deputy chief of staff, Thea Lee, said yesterday at a Center for American Progress panel on clean energy development. "Just because it's not cost efficient today doesn't it won't be 5, 10, 20 years from now," she said. read more »

Closing the New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. automotive plant in California will eliminate 25,000 jobs in the state and cost taxpayers $2.3 billion to replace the jobs lost, according to a March 3 report by University of California professor Harley Shaiken. read more »

Toyota is planning on closing the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. NUMMI auto-manufacturing plant in Fremont, CA on March 31. The immediate effect is a loss of 5,000 jobs. But, as with any factory closing, the effects ripple out well beyond the immediately obvious. read more »

In response to my article "No, Virginia, Manufacturing Isn't Dead" Mr. Scott has published as article titled "The Myth of the Manufacturing Recovery." Regrettably, his rebuttal is deeply flawed both in tone and substance. read more »

Americans who travel out of the country will tell you about how the US is so visibly falling further and further behind the rest of the world. This hurts our ability to compete economically. The cause of the problem was tax cuts. The solution is certainly not more tax cuts. read more »

So this Media Matters piece about the ACORN video hoax has conservative turd-stirrer Andrew Breitbart describing ACORN rally attendees as "common street thugs, the dregs of society." After writing yesterday about the screw the peasants mentality that governs this country, a featured read more »

In the middle of this terrible jobs crisis Whirlpool is closing a factory in the US and sending the jobs to Mexico. Their Mexican workers will be paid $70 a week. read more »

This Thursday, March 4, I am addressing the Apollo Alliance on Clean Energy and Good Jobs on the subject of "How to Make the U.S. a Leader in the Clean Energy Economy", a topic made urgent in the midst of the ongoing Great Recession by the promising reality that 'the deployment of just wind and solar power has the potential to support globally 20 million new jobs by 2030 and trillions of dollars in revenue.' read more »