President-elect Barack Obama intends to direct 10 percent of his stimulus package toward developing alternative energy sources.

Is that enough?

America needs a new economic engine to replace the tax base which was allowed to slip away to the vast, endless miles of factories built in China.

What would that new engine consist of?

The solar technology of today doesn’t look much like the technology of yesteryear (before oil interests pulled the rug out from under it). There are problems, but this technology could work, and work well.

The biggest problem is that many of the most promising solar and wind companies are owned, either directly or indirectly, by oil companies. That has to end. The government has to tear out the vested interests if the stimulus money is not to be wasted.

So, is 10 percent enough? We will find out, because we’ll be lucky to see even that much of it go in that direction. Digging holes and filling them in seems to be the order of the day.

Why the American public trusts this government is way beyond me.

Andy Bennett, Buckfield