Time for Full Employment to Product an Anti-Flationary Economy

By Roy McAlister

At the beginning of my career as an engineer I attempted to get U.S. carmakers, the railroad companies, the Army, Navy, and Air Force to utilize hydrogen and/or fuel saving inventions.  I provided projections showing how by 2000 most of the world’s oil would be controlled by multinational companies and countries that had goals and beliefs that were not friendly to the well being of the U.S.

Carmakers told me that it was not of interest to do anything about fuel efficiency so long as their product met EPA requirements and performed well enough to sell.   Military planners said they could not imagine a time in which they would switch to something other than diesel fuel and gasoline.  Senator Barry Goldwater tried to get the Air Force to use hydrogen but his efforts were rebuffed by oil-company lobbyists insisting that “jet fuel” had to be oil.

Coal is far more abundant but the downsides to coal are obvious from a strategic and environmental perspective. Strategically, coal is a fossil hydrocarbon. Using it to generate electric power doesn't eliminate our dependency on finite fossil fuel. Combustion of coal produces mercury and radioactive heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. Mercury causes birth defects and delays mental development. The sulfur and nitrous dioxide cause lung and respiratory ailments. And carbon dioxide accumulating in the global atmosphere is changing the Earth's climate.

Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush promised to achieve U.S. energy independence. In spite of these promises the U.S. continued for 35 years to increase dependence upon foreign energy from 24% to nearly 70%. This occurred while lobbyists continued to deliver over $100 billion per year in subsidies and benefits to fossil and radioactive fuel marketers and users.  And U.S. lawmakers provided tax advantages for importing durable goods at great transportation costs and instigated wars in Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq to greatly increase the rate that our military used oil to facilitate continued dependence upon foreign oil.

Renewable resources far exceed all fossil reserves.  We have technologies for converting solar, wind, moving water, waste biomass, and methane hydrates into renewable electricity and hydrogen. These technologies need to be applied in the unifying theme of achieving sustainable worldwide peace and prosperity.

What every community needs are opportunities for virtually full employment to make, use, and sell enough energy-intensive goods and services to achieve sustainable prosperity. We have proven renewable-energy technologies to enable new ventures in 7,000 communities of about one million persons to facilitate sustainable prosperity throughout the world. 

This article originally published at:  http://www.clean-air.org/time_for_full_employment__to_pro.htm