Regardless of who the next President is, last week’s dizzying fall on Wall Street is going to put some serious handcuffs on the ability of our government to invest in the Green Collar Economy.  Thinking through the numbers, we (and by we, I mean all American taxpayers) have so far laid out $200 Billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, $85 Billion for AIG and we are going to pony up $700 Billion for the creation of a new mechanism to bail out ALL holders of mortgage-backed securities.  That is $985 Billion dollars…all of which we basically need to borrow from our grandchildren.  Whether this TRILLION dollars will be enough is hard to say, but it sure is a hell of a lot of money that we really don’t have now.  This is as much as we’ve spent on the Iraq war in the last 5 years.  (I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a renewed interest in eliminating the $150 Billion we are spending over there every year)

With this new hole in our federal deficit, which was already at record levels prior to this unplanned bailout (the conservative Wall Street Journal is calling it Socialism) how will we ensure that we are able to invest in Green - the one area that will lead to continued economic growth for the 21st century?  The Wall Street Journal thinks that Democrats should hold the nation’s feet to the fire and insist that we invest in this now, during the debate on this bailout.   What do you think?

It looks like there is enough momentum in both chambers of commerce (oops, Freudian slip, I meant Congress) that we may actually see a compromise energy bill passed.  In the House, Nancy Pelosi is close to bringing a bill to the floor  that includes not only the alternative energy solutions and investment we need, but also provisions for offshore oil drilling.  This includes in all areas outside of 100 miles offshore, and gives states the option of choosing to drill outside of 50 miles.

In the Senate, the so-called Gang of 20 is moving to pass some moderate legislation that also allows for increased off-shore drilling - and although this is not a short or long-term energy solution, it is more important to compromise and move forward than to sit in limbo forever.

The good news is that money from this drilling will go to help fund the alternative-energy initiatives our country so vitally needs.  So, the Republicans get to say they succeeded in making America drill for its remaining oil assets, and Democrats get to say we compromised so we can move forward in solving our energy crisis long-term.  I am good with this….let’s move on and start capitalizing on the green revolution.