How could we afford a Green New Deal?

The question 'how do we pay for a Green New Deal?' assumes that money is the constraint. MMT shows us that for a currency-issuing government, the constraint is real resources, not money.

The real questions are: Do we have enough workers who can be trained for clean energy jobs? Do we have enough raw materials? Do we have the industrial capacity to manufacture solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles? Can we build the infrastructure needed? These are questions about real resources, not dollars.

During World War II, the US mobilized massive resources for the war effort. Unemployment dropped to around 1%, factories ran around the clock, and the economy's productive capacity was fully utilized. The government didn't ask 'where will the money come from?' - it asked 'what do we need to do and how do we mobilize resources to do it?'

A Green New Deal would actually be less resource-intensive than WWII mobilization because much of it involves transitioning existing activities (like energy production) rather than creating entirely new industries from scratch. The money can be created; the question is whether we have the political will to mobilize real resources.