Letter to President Obama

Subject: A National Strategy for Restructuring the Economy

Dear President Obama:

America needs to build a new foundation for jobs. Even with the stimulus package, almost none of the fundamental elements of our rapidly declining economy will return to good health within the next four years.

• Our mercuric petroleum based transport system is no longer reliable, regardless of the exact timing of peak oil. The airline and trucking industries nearly went belly up when oil rose to $100/bbl. That will surely happen again.

• Climate change will displace millions of people and jobs and will alter the ecosystems and economies upon which we rely. Irresponsible petroleum, coal and other carbon-based interests continue to drag us toward the precipice.

• Trust in the banking system has evaporated and will not return without some degree of nationalization and strict supervision. The credit base for all kinds of non-essential entrepreneurial activities is gone and will not rise to the same volume in my lifetime.

• Consumerism at the scale we have known it, is mortally wounded. It will never come back to employ millions now out of work. People will for decades be too cautious to spend money on non-essentials, and the material resources will not be there to sustain our consumption levels.

We must convert our unsustainable corporate economy to one that is centered on people’s needs; an economy dedicated to ensuring that the everyday and extraordinary needs of every member of this society are met. We will only make the lives of our children much worse if we try to restart the same old growth-oriented system by propping up the energy, transport and banking interests.

Here is a suggested strategy your administration might pursue:

First, sponsor a nationwide charrette for citizens to discuss what we want a new America to look like (given realistic constraints and opportunities).

Second, draw up a national capital investment and human resources plan to achieve the people's vision.

Third, invest the second, third and fourth years of recovery moneys in priorities identified by the planning process. (The first year of funds will just be thrown at the wall anyway.)

One way to enable sustainable local economies:

1) Rapidly convert energy production to renewable energy sources at the local level. It will be years, if ever, before we see anything come out of huge centralized energy generation and transmission projects. These will cause too much environmental damage, we will become too dependent upon them and they will be too vulnerable. Many states can generate much of the energy they need locally in short order using a diversified mix of geo-thermal, wind and solar.

2) Create a publicly owned grid that accepts energy input from excess local capacity. Take the profit motive out of transmission. That is what's killing some alternative energy sources now. Do the same for transport routes, pipelines and telecomm networks. Let private firms compete among themselves to provide value-added energy, goods and communication over publicly (or non-profit) owned utility networks.

3) Electrify everything that moves. Pour money into battery research. Encourage auto makers to retool to produce electric trains, trolleys, buses and cars. Let them go into receivership if they refuse or drag their feet. Place a very high tax on gas and keep the total price stable, but provide rebates to businesses and farms that still need to use fossil fuels because of technology lag.

4) Set a target of 25,000 miles of new Class 7, 8 and 9 interurban rail tracks to carry passengers and autos at speeds over 110 mph (this will require 5 million tons of steel, domestic and foreign, just for the tracks, plus huge amounts of rolling stock). Hauling personal electric cars by rail would allow the traveler flexibility at both ends of an efficient long distance trip. Railroads, moreover, have proved to be extraordinary primary employers with great multiplier effects. Use rail rights of way to host electrical transmission corridors with transformers to feed rail catenaries, especially in densely populated regions.

5) Set a target of 15 miles of electrified light rail trackage per 100,000 people in cities. This can be adjusted on a geometric or exponential scale for bigger cities. Do this in conjunction with the next point (6).

6) Help cities re-plan and densify themselves based on "villages in town" so that each 5000 person neighborhood has all the basic services and recreational opportunities they need within walking distance, including electric bus/trolley stops, and each 20,000 person community has higher order services within electric car range and is served by a light rail station.

7) Encourage set asides of close-in prime farmland sufficient to grow emergency food supplies for every 5000 person "village". This could be in the form of green belts or reclaimed suburban land in some efficient pattern. Train people to work the farms and market the produce locally. Returns to go into local social services.

With 45 years experience as a planner and policy analyst (20 years in international development), I believe that applying huge amounts of money to our faltering economy is necessary. Not to restart -- but to transform. What I have outlined, above, is just one way to move forward without abandoning our present economy. Over time, efficiencies will determine the proper mix of old and new.

It is, nonetheless, critical that we reorder our means of livelihood and husband the resources that remain to our descendants and us. Use what time and resources we have left to create a truly sustainable and comfortable society. I believe that economic restructuring, not recovery, should be the goal. It is infinitely preferable to start now – when we have the will and the resources – than later after we've squandered both.

Sincerely yours,

Jay H. Moor (PhD)
Bozeman, MT