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<blockquote data-quote="BrownArmy" data-source="post: 2074963" data-attributes="member: 18225">You&#039;re missing the point.Reagan realized that technology was shifting, and that certain sectors would lose jobs as new sectors were being created.Whether or not he put money into job retraining, I can&#039;t say, but at the very least he recognized the situation.Which is what we should do now in this country - retrain coal and oil workers for different work.Coal and oil will always remain a vital part of our economy, but the number of jobs will keep dropping.&nbsp; Instead of leaving these workers hanging, retrain them.We&#039;re so schizophrenic about policy in this country.We can&#039;t lose the fundamental capacity for coal and oil, as they are critical (sun doesn&#039;t always shine, wind doesn&#039;t always blow).Great example is solar - electric companies are losing their minds because more and more homes are generating their own power with rooftop solar, which cuts into the bottom line of the utilities, who fund and maintain the transmission lines that ultimately hold the electrical grid together.So what happens?&nbsp; Electric utilities lobby against solar...which isn&#039;t the point, but it&#039;s so clear that we don&#039;t have a plan for moving forward.Old models are falling apart, and government isn&#039;t supplying anything close to coherent policy that would ease the transition.Just like job retraining - elected officials flap their gums and nothing gets done.We don&#039;t suffer from a lack of amazing ideas, we suffer from an appalling lack of implementation.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BrownArmy, post: 2074963, member: 18225"] You're missing the point. Reagan realized that technology was shifting, and that certain sectors would lose jobs as new sectors were being created. Whether or not he put money into job retraining, I can't say, but at the very least he recognized the situation. Which is what we should do now in this country - retrain coal and oil workers for different work. Coal and oil will always remain a vital part of our economy, but the number of jobs will keep dropping. Instead of leaving these workers hanging, retrain them. We're so schizophrenic about policy in this country. We can't lose the fundamental capacity for coal and oil, as they are critical (sun doesn't always shine, wind doesn't always blow). Great example is solar - electric companies are losing their minds because more and more homes are generating their own power with rooftop solar, which cuts into the bottom line of the utilities, who fund and maintain the transmission lines that ultimately hold the electrical grid together. So what happens? Electric utilities lobby against solar...which isn't the point, but it's so clear that we don't have a plan for moving forward. Old models are falling apart, and government isn't supplying anything close to coherent policy that would ease the transition. Just like job retraining - elected officials flap their gums and nothing gets done. We don't suffer from a lack of amazing ideas, we suffer from an appalling lack of implementation. [/QUOTE]

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