How Will the Economic Stimulus Plan Affect Environment and Energy?

Reading through this story in Yahoo News (see quotes below) you can see a rough explanation of where stimulus money is planned to be directed.  An effort is being made; a good sign.  But, reading through the story you can’t help but wonder if throwing money at our economic problems will help or hurt.  Part of the reason things got to this point is due to unwise spending, loaning, and profit-mongering.

Yes, putting money in the right places will go a long way to helping with our present dire situation.  However, a shift in attitude and ideas must come along with it.  If we are to repair what has been broken, we need to look beyond simply throwing money at the problem.  Hopefully, our legislators will realize this also.

Before we get into Environment and Energy, let’s take a look at just how the stimulus plan can get our nation even further into debt:

National debt:

One thing about the president’s $790 billion stimulus package is certain: It will jack up the federal debt.

Whether or not it succeeds in producing jobs and taming the recession, tomorrow’s taxpayers will end up footing the bill.

Forecasters expect the 2009 deficit — for the budget year that began last Oct 1 — to hit $1.6 trillion including new stimulus and bank-bailout spending. That’s about three times last year’s shortfall.

The torrents of red ink are being fed by rising federal spending and falling tax revenues from hard-hit businesses and individuals.

The national debt — the sum of all annual budget deficits — stands at $10.7 trillion. Or about $36,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S.

Interest payments alone on the national debt will near $500 billion this year. It’s already the fourth-largest federal expenditure, after Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security and defense.

This will affect us all directly for years, as well as our children and possibly grandchildren, in higher taxes and probably reduced government services. It will also force continued government borrowing, increasingly from China, Japan, Britain, Saudi Arabia and other foreign creditors.

Now, let’s look at how the stimulus plan will affect the environment and energy; hopefully on a positive note:  Read more

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