This week the American Enterprise Institute issued a devastating critique by Benjamin Zyndar of the Grean New Deal (GND) proposal introduced by Senator Markey in the Senate and Representative Ocasio-Cortez in the House of Representatives. It was subsequently rejected by the Senate in a 57 to 0 vote. A one-page summary of this critique can be found here, with the full AEI report here.
- Chief among the GND’s goals, the AEI report says, is “meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources . . . by dramatically expanding and upgrading renewable power sources.” A highly conservative estimate of the aggregate cost of this goal alone would be $490.5 billion per year, permanently, or $3,845 per year per household. The GND renewable electricity mandate would also create significant environmental damage — there is nothing clean about ‘clean’ electricity — and require over 115 million acres of land, an area approximately 15 percent larger than the land area of California.”
The GND proposes to finance their enormously expensive plan primarily by “The use of inflation as a mechanism for the acquisition of real resources for the government imposes its own set of large costs; the literature suggests that annual inflation rates of 10 percent or 20 percent would impose economic losses of about $2 trillion and $4 trillion per year, respectively. This effect is crudely analogous to the excess burden of the explicit tax system. Modern Monetary Theory is little more than the latest example of the old argument that there is available a free lunch, as illustrated by the argument from a prominent proponent that ‘anything that is technically feasible is financially affordable….’”
“The GND proposals for the transportation sector would create large wealth transfers from rural, exurban, and suburban regions to urban ones, and they would reduce individual mobility sharply by increasing the ability of government to control transportation patterns….”
One of the most devastating findings is that “The GND at its core is the substitution of central planning in place of market forces for resource allocation in the US energy and transportation sectors narrowly and in the broad industrial, commercial, and residential sectors writ large. Given the tragic and predictable record of central planning outcomes worldwide over the past century, the GND should be rejected.”
The AEI review implies that the authors of the GND have not made a contribution to improving the environment, but rather made a devastating prescription for destroying the US economy, which is the basis for funding future environmental improvements. A number of announced Presidential and Congressional candidates for Democratic Party nominations have announced various degrees of support for the GND. Voters may wish to take this into account in deciding which candidates to vote for next year.
The perfidy by the Obama Administration is remarkable, going far far far beyond watergate.
The Fbi, cia, and other federal entities, and foreign governments, were harnessed to invent disinformation so as to eavesdrop on a political campaigns.
This undermines precious democracy for which so many have sacrificed. It is traitorous behavior.
The fbi under Comey also knowingly covered up crimes by Hillary Clinton. She was criminally negligent with classified information.
It’s horribly anti-american and shameful.
They favored their hoax cause of climate change and the UN over the United Stares and harnessed intelligence agencies against their own nation.
The Tribe of Democrats has circled the wagons and doubled down on ideas that are dopey. This must be what is known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.
They chose to believe al Gore decades ago and they can’t now admit this was wrong. They are vain and a herd of followers.
Normal people know they are not geniuses and can admit errors. However admitting stupidity must be very hard for an tribe of vain people.
The best attack may be to laugh at the herd of people who choose to believe the New York Times. Doc Carlin is serious minded, so may be disinclined to laugh. Less so myself. Laughter is good for health.
We have arrived at an odd situation.
The political polarization of today owes to several factors. A lack of practically positive policies for democrats. Their allegiance to dishonest narratives. Their craving for money with which to campaign or pocket. Complete disdain for economics; every leftist voted against the business tax cuts that have boosted the economy. They are Impractically wrong about virtually every single issue. The Fake News wraps them in a mindless cocoon of excuses for their follies, so they can’t get smarter.
Lies from losers versus realistic ideas from people who would like to make the nation better off. What an amazing contrast.
The Green New Deal is insanely expensive. Since there is no problem posed by climate change, there is no justification for it. The claim that solar and wind can 100 percent replace fossil fuels is fantasy. The Loonie Left is not appealing to the voters with honesty or reason.
Within a democracy, lies and fake news are the enemy of the people. 2020 will offer a clear election choice between liars versus patriots.
The “Green Ordeal” seems like the current version of the Communist Manifesto.
We would need a Communist dictatorship to even try to implement it without having a civil war.
The new Robert Francis O’Rourke $5 trillion plan is smaller sale scale central planning.
The goal of the climate change catastrophe is coming “religion” has always been to frighten people enough to sell “The Plan”.
Now we are finding out what The Plan actually is, although I think I had a general idea since the late 1990s – when I realized ALL alleged coming environmental catastrophes (that never come) have the same “solution”: A much more powerful government — the various environmental boogeymen in the past, before global warming caught on, were just different ways to “sell” socialism, as the only solution to save the planet for the children.
It’s all a power grab, based on junk science, but there are a lot of suckers out there !
Why do you use “Economics” and “Science” in the blog title — seems like mainly science to me.
I’ve written an economics newsletter since 1977, an economics blog since 2008, and a climate science blog since 2014 — I’ve found that people interested in economics were not interested in climate science, and vice versa.
http://www.EL2017.Blogspot.com
http://www.elOnionBloggle.Blogspot.com
More important, Mr. Carlin, you do a very good job with the articles on this blog.
There are multiple lines of attack being used to support the climate hoax. They are sobering.
There are those who advocate allegiance to the cargo cult science.
This is bolstered by ad hominem insults, fake news, and even physical attacks.
Obama steered the intelligence community against Trump based on fake evidence, an epic scandal.
Universities inhibit critical thinking and free speech among students and faculty.
There is a false fairy tale of the viability of wind and solar to fulfill all electricity generation.
The supplanting of fossil fuels via the Green new deal will be insanely expensive, yet it would still be ineffective, because there is no climate change caused by fossil fuel combustion, in the first place.
This overall situation does not appeal to reason or to thoughtful voters. Instead reason is challenged by false narratives and threats. There is little fair and enobling competition of ideas, rather mere lies and threats.
The Left has an Orwellian game plan. Silicon Valley is helping China monitor its citizens including oppressed peoples and cultures..
The fake threat of climate is being used to justify left wing oppression.
Nearly all the democrat candidates seem on board with the Green New Deal. It is so absurd that it would be funny, if not deliberately false and economically threatening.
The agenda of Obama, Hillary, and todays democrat party seems fundamentally detrimental to the United States. This is shameful and worrisome.
A nice reminder of the valuable contributions from the American Enterprise Institute and Competitive Enterprise Institute. They render service by championing businesses against flawed public policies.
Few political ideas could be as sadly flawed as the Green New Deal. An immensely expensive, yet utterly ineffective agenda, to solve a nonexistent problem. Three fatal flaws combine.
Senator Markey did not even vote to support his own agenda. That was a good vote on his part. He must have come to realize his GND was terrible.