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If our president is correct, his $168 billion economic stimulus package will turn our slowing economy around.
But I don't believe it.
You can give away as much free money as you want, but people are still going to struggle paying for gas and electricity, lose their homes and lose their jobs because let's face it - the U.S. is falling behind in the world.
Instead of giving us a small amount of money, the government needs to create jobs. The cash incentive is just a short-term solution. A little $600 check in our hands isn't going to create a sonic boom of spending.
So how do you do it? It won't happen overnight, of course, but we should start looking at what other countries are doing, and maybe we could learn a few things.
I was watching WSIU at 2 a.m. and saw a documentary on the solar energy market boom in Germany. It was due to a thing called the Renewable Energy Sources Act (or EEG), which set a goal for the country to have 20 percent of its total energy come from renewable sources.
Now, nearly 500,000 people have installed solar panels, creating tens of thousands of jobs and plenty of optimism to make investors happy. Plus, the owners of the panels themselves actually make money by sharing the excess electricity at a rate frozen for the next 20 years by the government.
But the U.S. is losing when it comes to global warming when it could be ahead - and the prospects aren't just a cleaner Earth. If we start producing small, hydrogen cars, we'd have hydrogen fuel stations, new factories and more parking if those huge SUVs start disappearing.
But our reluctance to change is costing us. I hate filling up my gas tank as much as I hate paying my electricity bills. But making the investment -those hydrogen cars, those solar panels - quickly pay for themselves. It's like buying a mo-ped, where even if you can only use it on sunny days, a gallon of gas can last a week.
There has been some progress: Illinois is one state where the government has agreed to help pay for the cost of panels up to 30 percent for businesses with a maximum payment of $400,000. But that cost doesn't include individual homes, which are only eligible for a 30 percent rebate maximum of $10,000.
In other words, the government isn't excited about large-scale projects, which is a little disappointing. One farmer in Germany used his land to build something similar to a little solar energy powerhouse, with some million panels on his own land; here, it seems projects like that are frowned upon.
The U.S. Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, which gives $200,000 grants to 12 major cities across the country, is a little exciting. But nothing's going to happen unless politicians push for regulations instead of giving away cash such as with the economic stimulus.
I hate to quote clichés, but instead of giving away fish, we should be fishing for ourselves - or we're going to find ourselves biting on the hooks of other countries.
Engler is a senior studying French and journalism.
