Last September Obama presented a plan for the ailing economy that is at last serious; the focus is on jobs now
. In this highlighting the matter Occupy Wall Street is also doing its bit. Not surprisingly the Republicans have placed hurdles.
The Republicans want to cut down environmental protection regulations as they believe it is this that will lead to job generation. To support their claim they are citing a study conducted by the oil and gas industry. However they are talking about job generation in the future.
Common sense dictates that a sick environment will make humans sicker. Certainly job figures are not worth this.
Currently 14 million Americans are without jobs. The Obama plan estimates that one to two million will get employment from his jobs plan. The jobs will not be in any distant future but in 2012.
More pollution will not take American to levels of full employment. Economists with weight opine that we require more and not less environmental protection.
The argument supporting environmental protection is not based on aesthetic dislike for the industrial world. Pollution is not imaginary it does real damage that can be measured; worst affected is the health of man.
Policy shapers should take this into account. More politicians should stand up and say, I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people. In 2003 it was Republican Mitt Romney who said this. Today the core of his message is that we should make more use of coal!
A recent study undertaken by Middlebury College at Yale has presented data from many sources to show the how industries damage the environment. The calculations are not fully comprehensive since only air pollution is taken into account but an effort has been made to deal with long-term problems like changes in climate.
There are many industries causing damage to the environment that is more than the total wage they disburse and the profits they net. This in effect means value is destroyed by them they do not create it. One of the top offenders is electricity generated by coal.
The authors of the study are finding the damage to the environment is bigger than the apparent returns to the economy. However it does not translate into the shutting down of the industry that the emissions should be regulated. The current regulations are not sufficiently strict.
The mega industries engaged in destroying value are focused in the sector dealing with natural resources and energy a segment that donates generously to the Republican Party funds.