Barney Frank: Hillary’s Coal Statement ‘A Dumb Way To Put It,’ Odds Are ‘Nil’ That Older Miners Will Work In Solar Industry

Hillary Clinton supporter former Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) said that Hillary’s declaration that her coal plan would “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” was “a dumb way to put it” and the odds that older coal miners would find jobs in alternative energy sectors is “nil” on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time.”

Frank stated of Hillary’s coal comments, “[T]hat was a dumb way to put it. … And what — the problem is this, first of all, there is is a lot of skepticism about government. So, to believe the $30 billion alternative, requires people to have more confidence in government than they have, not necessarily than I have. The other point Bill, and this is I think a valid criticism of this, yes, it is important, when you lose some jobs to get them elsewhere, but as a matter of fact, the likelihood that 58-year-old coal miners are going to become the solar engineers of the future is nil.”

He added that having more income support for out of work coal miners would be a better approach.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett