Trump, in returning us to greatness, is killing our future

President Trump and his billionaire cabinet are turning away from clean energy, in the form of solar and wind, and returning to the old, dirty staples of oil and coal. In the meantime, China is embracing solar and wind and turning away from coal, which, besides contributing greenhouse gasses to climate change, has caused years of health damaging smog in Chinese cities. China will be investing $360 Billion over the next three years in renewable generation. America will invest how much?

Leaving aside the argument on climate change is the argument for jobs. China's investment is expected to produce 13 million jobs in the clean energy sector. How many jobs will be created by America turning back to coal? And keep in mind that most energy sector analysts believe that jobs in coal will not materialize because of the fall in the price of natural gas and the conversion of many old coal fired power plants to natural gas.

Let's assume that President Trump is pushing coal simply because he want to produce jobs for those coal miners and producers who have been put out of work by the moves away from coal, and not because he is pandering to the millionaire coal mine owners that want to extract more money from their past investments. Let's view it strictly as a job works issue.

America lags behind every other industrial country in providing resources to retrain and support workers hurt by economic changes, whatever their causes. Globalization has been of major benefit to Americans, in terms of product costs and trade. Globalization has impacted workers, but those workers have been further damaged by an absence of retraining programs or assistance to move to locations where jobs are available. This has been compounded by societal changes that have seen American workers less willing to change locations. In the 1930's to 1950's, during the Great Depression and World War II and Cold War, Americans were on the move, changing location to match the economy. Americans seem less likely, or less able, to travel to find new jobs.

In the area of energy generation, the rest of the world has recognized the need to change the sources of energy from fossil fuels to renewables. Even if you are less than 100% sure that coal and oil cause global warming, there is the fact that fossil fuels will someday run out. Renewables will not. Peak oil may be 20 years from now, 200 years from now, or already past. Regardless, wind and solar are forever. That alone should be a reason to continue the conversion from fossil fuels to renewables that every country on the globe has started.

But most important is the job question. That is, supposedly, why the President is pushing coal, to put those miners back to work. Why not invest in training those workers for the jobs of the future. Only America will want to continue with those old, polluting jobs and energy sources. Why aren't we, instead, concentrating on the jobs of the future, where everyone else is going?

Well, maybe it is about rewarding his billionaire capitalist friends, not returning those coal miners to work.