More than two-thirds of the GDP are driven by working people. So, if you have deflation, you see demand going down, and you see demand going down because people’s income is going down, and in order to deal with that you’ve got to focus on bringing people’s income up– more jobs, better income, more stability for working people.

I thought that the statements that were made by all four of the economists here were very strong indicators of what the circumstances are that we’re facing, and there was a general sense that we needed an economic development program which is being called the economic stimulus program, but an economic development program within our own needs– basic infrastructure, like transportation infrastructure, but other things like water supply facilities, sewer treatment plants, which are falling apart all over this country and have been neglected by numerous administrations, going back for a long time. And the need for new forms of energy production, I think that that is a critical element of economic growth that, if we focus on properly, is going to stimulate a huge number of jobs, and probably millions of jobs.

We can in effect here have a new industrial revolution, which is going to decline our dependence on fossil fuels, particularly oil and especially foreign oil. We’re importing 70 percent of foreign oil now. We’re using 24 percent of the oil that’s used around the world. We have less than three percent on this planet, here, onshore, offshore, and up in Alaska– less than three percent! So, that is something that has to be dealt with. I think that the statements made by these guys that were here today and the way that they were able to respond very, very significantly to questions is very positive. I congratulate my friend, Carolyn Maloney for putting this together. It was a very good thing to do.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized .