Free Republic

Green jobs training programs provide a great opportunity for the nation's underserved communities to gain valuable work training to help lift them up out of poverty. This includes individuals that have served prison sentences. A Recovery Act-funded green jobs training program in Chicago will help provide jobs for 650 ex-convicts. And the green jobs for cons trend isn't limited to the Midwest; inmates at San Quentin State Prison in California recently were treated to a green jobs fair.

GLENN BECK, HOST: President Obama is constantly talking about Spain and their success rate with green jobs. Well, one Spanish professor doesn't agree. He's conducted a green jobs study in Spain showing different results. Here is Professor Gabriel Calzada. Professor, what have you found in your study in Spain? What's the truth of the green jobs? GABRIEL CALZADA, SPANISH PROFESSOR: Well, we found that the jobs that we are creating, since you are taking the resources from other parts of the economy, this is making — well, destroying jobs in other parts of the economy. For every job that you...

As the economy sheds jobs, community colleges across the country are reporting a surge of unemployed workers enrolling in courses that offer training for "green-collar" jobs. Students are learning how to install solar panels, repair wind turbines, produce biofuels and do other work related to renewable energy. "I think the opportunities in this field are going to be huge," said Rudy Gastelo, a part-time handyman who left the construction industry two years ago. "I'm not getting that 9-to-5 paycheck, so I'm looking forward to maybe getting a job within a solar company."

has unveiled plans to build a $100 million battery manufacturing plant in eastern New York state for a newly formed battery business. The announcement was made at GE’s (NSYE: GE) Global Research Center near Albany. GE is partnering with the state of New York in building the $100 million in the plant that will be located in a yet-undetermined site in the Albany region. It will create 350 jobs—being labeled "green-collar" jobs—and thousands more in the supply chain, GE said.

A key argument in favor of the stimulus package is that it contains several measures that are not only good for the environment but will create new jobs and boost the economy. From the people who make wind turbines and solar panels to those who install insulation in buildings or design electric cars, the predicted number of so-called green collar jobs to be created [1] stretches into the hundreds of thousands. But reality says otherwise. In fact, everywhere that these green measures have been tried, unemployment has increased, not decreased. The same will happen across the U.S. if the stimulus...

Jimmy P. at the DNC—Another staple of the many convention speeches is the claim that Obamanomics, via government "investment," will create five million "green collar" jobs. But here's the thing: These jobs are, for the most part, not the kind of gigs many middle class folks would have much interest in doing: bike repair, hazardous material cleanup, landscaping, tree cutting, attic insulation, large-scale green waste composting. Then again, these jobs really aren't geared toward the middle class to begin with. A 2007 report by the city of Berkeley—of course!—described the potential pool of applicants for green collar jobs this way:...