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Why do you jump from blue collar to high tech in the retraining conversation? Sounds like an extreme that people aren't arguing for. I think retraining a cole m
by everdev 8y ago
Why do you jump from blue collar to high tech in the retraining conversation? Sounds like an extreme that people aren't arguing for. I think retraining a cole miner to use similar tools or equipment (like in a quarry) would be what most people are talking about. Or retraining retail to be in customer service.
- rubinelli 8y agoThe Green New Deal would create tens of thousands of blue collar jobs. Can a coal miner be retrained to install and maintain solar panels? I bet they can.
- beat 8y agoSo what if they can be trained to install solar panels? Are there going to be gobs of new solar panel installation jobs in their hometowns where the coal mine closed? This is a huge part of the problem. The brightest and most ambitious get out of dying communities and go elsewhere (heck, America is made largely of the descendants of people who did exactly that). But not everyone wants to move away from their hometown. Not everyone has the resources to start over somewhere else, even if they wanted to do so.
- dllthomas 8y ago> Are there going to be gobs of new solar panel installation jobs in their hometowns where the coal mine closed? Maybe if everyone's, say, getting a $1000/mo UBI...
- lawnchair_larry 8y agoIs anyone silly enough to think even one former coal miner is going to spend their $1k on solar panels?
- dllthomas 8y agoI don't see why you're silly enough to think none would. I certainly agree that a former coal miner with no source of income but the UBI is unlikely to, at best. But a former coal miner re-employed, with an additional extra $1k, doesn't seem any more unlikely than baseline. And if all the still-unemployed former coal miners in town have $1k/mo instead of $0/mo, there is much more opportunity for former coal miners (and everyone else in town) to offer them services.