Overlooked Part of the Stimulus: A Green Revolution

President Obama's stimulus package has so far been debated in narrow terms of how many jobs it may or may not have saved or created, writes Michael Grunwald in Time. Lost in the rhetoric are the many profound and long-term ways it can change America—first and foremost in creating what Grunwald calls a "green industrial revolution." The act "is the most ambitious energy legislation in history, converting the Energy Department into the world's largest venture-capital fund," he writes.

"It's pouring $90 billion into clean energy, including unprecedented investments in a smart grid; energy efficiency; electric cars; renewable power from the sun, wind and earth; cleaner coal; advanced biofuels; and factories to manufacture green stuff in the US," he writes. The act also includes a slew of non-energy sea changes, such as computerizing the health system and "data-driven school reform." As Joe Biden puts it: "Now the fun stuff starts ... This is a chance to do something big, man!"
(More economic stimulus package stories.)