On the very day that Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith announced his resignation in revulsion over how the firm is callously “ripping their clients off," Phil Angelides, chair of the nation’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, expressed his continuing disgust with how Wall Street has become “a casino floor as big as New York, New York,” after wiping away $9 trillion of household wealth “like a day trade gone bad.”

Speaking at a Responsible Investment Forum of investors, pension fund managers and union and community leaders, convened in Los Angeles by Heartland Capital Strategies, Angelides assailed the financial system centered on Wall Street for “becoming a conduit for speculation rather than productive investment.”

The BlueGreen Alliance says that reauthorizing the fully funded Surface Transportation bill that President Obama today urged Congress to extend is “an incredibly important step in achieving our number one national priority: putting America to work.”

To build a green economy, we must also invest in broadband and overcome the growing digital divide in our society, according to a new report. “Networking the Green Economy: How Broadband & Related Technologies Can Build a Green Economic Future” calls for new communication technologies to make our energy-hungry economy more sustainable and energy-efficient.

Expanding freight rail presents a significant opportunity to create quality U.S. jobs while reducing pollution, breaking our dependence on foreign oil and ensuring the nation remains competitive in the 21st century global economy, according to a report released today by the BlueGreen Alliance.

The BlueGreen Alliance and Apollo Alliance today announced a merger to strengthen and unify the movement to build a clean energy, good jobs economy to fuel U.S. job creation. The newly unified organization will call on Washington to focus anew on creating good jobs, securing America’s energy future and preserving the environment for future generations.

This is a cross-post by Barb Kucera, editor of Workday Minnesota.

Viking Drill & Tool employee Doug Sachs says the transition to more environmentally friendly production at the St. Paul company has benefited management, workers—and their wallets. “When you say green, people think cash,” he said.

We all know that the Chamber of Commerce comes down on the wrong side of just about every issue that matters for working families. But here’s a staggering statistic to show you just how far out of the mainstream the Chamber swims.

The Recovery Act’s green investments committed through the end of 2010 created or saved nearly 1 million jobs, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the BlueGreen Alliance. This report provides evidence that the Recovery Act succeeded in responding to the nation’s economic crisis and that green investments create jobs while laying a foundation for the development of a 21st century green economy in the United States.

Hundreds of union members and environmental activists will spend the day on Capitol Hill Thursday delivering one message to lawmakers: We must quickly put aside partisan bickering and make a long-term national commitment to create a green economy and make serious investments in infrastructure, education, research and development and manufacturing. 

Thousands of labor, environmental, business and community representatives will discuss the best ways to build a sustainable economy that creates good green jobs across the country at the 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference Feb. 8–10 in Washington, D.C.