Where’s Our Green New Deal? Treasury Reinforces Old Economy

aig_neelkashkari.jpgI haven’t read Thomas Friedman’s new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, but I’m going to. Friedman argues that we are at a unique moment in history where we need to forcefully impose green thinking. He takes the long view that we absolutely MUST shift out of our oil/coal dependent energy economy and throw money at all opportunities for green energy innovation. Here’s a quote from a HuffPost interview:

Just don’t tell me — this is the Cheney line — let’s let the market work. Just let the market work. As if the market is neutral. We give nothing to renewables. We give very little to renewables. And we have legacy subsidies and tax incentives for dirty fossil fuels. The whole thing is totally skewed. This market has been gamed from the beginning. If we’re going to game the market let’s at least game it so that clean fuels are on an equal footing with the dirty fuels.

We should be throwing money at this problem. This could give birth to a whole industry. This is not a thing you nickel and dime.

In the meantime, Neel Kashkari is pissing off finance execs by refusing to discuss recent Treasury decisions. Treasury increased funding to AIG from $123 BILLION to $130 BILLION with no explanation, among other mysteries. Bloomburg News is suing Treasury under the Freedom of Information Act for details about who/what institutions are receiving the massive amounts of dollars the government is throwing at them. WHATUP WITH THE SECRECY?? IT’S TAXPAYER MONEY!! Here’s a quote from the Bloomburg article:

The Fed has lent $1.5 trillion to banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., through programs such as its discount window, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility. Collateral is an asset pledged to a lender in the event that a loan payment isn’t made.

The Fed made the loans under 11 programs in response to the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The total doesn’t include an additional $700 billion approved by Congress in a bailout package.

So, is our country bleeding or what? It’s all headlines right now, we’re not experiencing food shortages or energy blackouts yet. But dang! Is there impending doom? What would REALLY happen if these financial institutions collapsed, or to put it another way, if the Invisible Hand did its worst? Mass unemployment at least. Are we are only staving off the inevitable?

Like Friedman, I can’t help feeling like our country’s lack of imagination at the highest levels is our biggest burden. Hurry Obama!!! We need you. And don’t forget to make Al Gore, or somebody with VISION, Chief of Energy Independence when you pull together your cabinet!

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November 13, 2008 | Filed Under Future Freak, Great Recession 

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