Gas Prices Continue to Decrease
T. BOONE PICKENS, FOUNDER CHAIRMAN BP CAPITOL MANAGEMENT: Now, with the price of coming down -- when I opened on July 8th, the price of gasoline was $4.11. That's when I when I launched. And now, we're half that. Does it hurt? You know, really, the cheaper the gas price goes, the better it helps the country, no question. But we're importing exactly the same amount of oil today, as we did back on July 8th. So, the security issue is still -- has not changed a bit. The economic issue has. It's cheaper now to import. We cannot continue to do this.</s>NGUYEN: That was Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens, on his plan to help relieve the U.S. on what he calls its addiction to oil. Meanwhile, gas prices, they keep going down. AAA reports the national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline is now $2.31. That's down 2.6 cents from yesterday's price. AAA says this is the 51st consecutive decrease. We've been talking about it all morning long, the economy. It is bleeding jobs. But President-elect Obama has said a new green economy could provide some relief. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our Energy Fix from New York. Hi there, Poppy.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hi there, Betty. Well, this morning we heard that the unemployment rate in this country is now 6.5 percent. 1.2 million people have lost jobs already this year. That report really just tells a grim, grim story about the state of our economy. It shows just how much President-elect Obama has before him. Here's how he plans to turn the tide.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Creating a new electricity grid so that we can bring renewable sources of energy to population centers that need them. Invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy, building wind turbines and solar panels, creating the next generation of biofuels. Investing in clean coal technology. Making sure that we're building the new generation of fuel efficient cars, not in Japan, not in South Korea, but right here in the United States of America.</s>HARLOW: You heard the laundry list of ideas. Obama says he can create five million new jobs. He plans to spend $150 billion over the next 10 years to do that. One proposal he didn't mention is job training. He wants to retrain laid off workers. He also wants to help military members return from deployment to employment, a plan called the Green Vet Initiative. That trains veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan to compete for jobs in the green economy -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: It all sounds very good. But, here is the million, perhaps a billion dollar question. How's he going to pay for it?</s>HARLOW: It is a great question. I think he's probably asking that right now, as well. What he's doing, what he's calling for right now, is a plan to use revenue from his cap and trade program. That's essentially where the government will auction off permits that allow mainly energy companies to emit carbon. And each year, the government will reduce the number of permits, therefore reducing the amount of greenhouse gases those companies emit. The money raised from auctioning off those permits will be used to fund the job creation program. Critics though, really are concerned that asking companies to spend money to buy those permits may hurt their bottom line, cause them to cut more jobs. That's a big concern. We explain it more right there on CNNMoney.com. And, Betty, back to you. I wanted to congratulate you on the Heroes award you got.</s>NGUYEN: Oh, thank you. I do appreciate it. That show will be airing Thanksgiving night. OK. So, 240,000 jobs lost last month. Reaction this morning from the market and the White House. That's at the top of the hour.