With Respect to a "Green" Economy

Hi Uyen,

Thanks for writing.

I don't recall where I said that "Green Jobs were Fictitious"

What I probably meant was that within the current economic, political, and technological paradigm/understanding, they are very little more than a false promise. Obama and Clinton are good at that.

You state the key, but I suspect you misunderstand the term that you used, "demand side economics". For example, there is more than ample demand for wind and PV, but the reality is that the supply side of these technologies are a fiction relative to that demand. Solar thermal has a huge potential but will never be realized in the Capitalist economy.

The whole Classical and Neo-classical notion of supply and demand is an almost totally invalid abstraction when used to develop mechanistic and/or econometric models of the so-called "market system". There are so many simplifying assumptions that supply and demand curves prove to be of marginal, if any, use. But, I understand your term demand to be a more generic application of the word.

The key is demand side economics, and supply side reallocation, and I will restate what I wrote in the second essay. We need to abandon the fallacious notions of a Capitalist scam "market economy" and move judiciously to a "plan and implement" socialist economy. You are quite correct when you say that when communities have the resources both to aggregate and bargain relative to their demands (I would substitute needs and wants) then we will be able to successfully implement a green economy based on the principles of equity, humanity, quality of life, inclusion, peace, and sustainability.

Two important points.

1.) Demand side management for fossil fuels and even more odious alternatives (i.e. nuclear) needs to be the priority when talking about energy resources. We need to rebuild communities and reallocate goods and services in a manner that will reduce the use of the automobile by 80% in the next twenty to forty years. If this is a pipe dream, then it is far superior to Obama's 35.5 mpg fantasy, which even if doable, will have little to no positive impact on the magnitude of the problem that we face.

2.) Fundamental change is necessary in the way that we allocate resources to and within communities and within and among economic sectors. Plan and implement. Plan and implement. Plan and implement... We need a worldwide understanding that neighborhood/inter-community/inter-regional and worldwide cooperation must become the modus operandi.

I hope this helps to clarify my position.

I am a Eutopian Socialist who has conceived the Peoples' Equity Union, a bright and tiny (or should I write "infinitesimal") glimmer of hope for the youth and children of the planet at a time in history where there really (should I leave room for error?) is exactly none.

Nonetheless, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and although the people of Eugene choose to be completely uncaring of the fate of our progeny, and no significant others have acknowledged that there is real hope in my proposals, I continue to reach out.

It is my hope that I can find renaissance thinking in the environs and that we can "keep hope alive" and begin to grow a movement that would need to be the largest fulcrum of change that the human race has ever experienced.

Let's be sufficiently cynical, and not delusional, and understand that reality from the start.