# Could Green Investment Have Prevented the Economic Meltdown?

*Published:* 2008-09-23
*Author:* Sheryl Canter

![Sheryl Canter](http://environmentaldefenseblogs.org/climate411/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2008/07/sheryl_canter.jpg)Former President Bill Clinton gave an interesting analysis last night on the *Late Show with David Letterman* of how we got into our [current economic mess](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/economy/24fannie.html). It all started at the beginning of the decade with lots of money to invest and no place to invest it. (For more on this, listen to the excellent report from *This American Life* on "[The Giant Pool of Money](http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355)".) Since most of the economic activity at this time was in real estate, investment bankers invented something called "mortgage-backed securities". This worked well and they wanted more, so lenders started giving mortgages to people with no ability to repay them – leading to the current mess.

**We could have avoided this problem, Clinton said, if government had provided incentives for investment in the next big thing – clean energy.**

EDF’s position is that the [green economy is our best hope for the future](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2008/09/08/jobless_rate_august_08/). The [incentive we need to make this happen](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2008/05/16/race_for_clean_energy/) is a cap on global warming pollution.

*This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.*