In a speech on Wednesday at a GM auto plant in Wisconsin, Barack Obama outlined his economic agenda for the country. He described his stimulus plan, promising to boost green jobs, help the middle class, dole out tax cuts, negotiate worker and environmental protections in upcoming free-trade agreements — and, to help pay for much of it, end the costly war in Iraq.
The environmental highlights of the speech are below (audio available here):
Decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who’ve seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear; workers whose right to organize and unionize has been under assault for the last eight years …
[Lobbyists have] been allowed to write an energy policy that’s keeping us addicted to oil when there are families choosing between gas and groceries …
[When I am president, infrastructure repairs in the country] will be determined not by politics, but by what will maximize our safety and homeland security; wh... Read more