We’re in a weird part of the news cycle. For the most part, the left is acknowledging that President Trump didn’t collude with Russia after all. There are even thought leaders on the blue side admitting that the economy is in great shape.
It seems that the American people aren’t allowing the tallest of tales to persist anymore. So, the left has to pivot. They’ve been great at that for a long time, and one of their pivots is to focus on policy. Their policies are insane, but it’s a refreshing change of pace.
Because of that, we’ve reached a point where even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is discussing some real details of her legislative proposals. Before this miracle subsides, we should dive into those details.
The Basic Package
There’s a lot in the Green New Deal that has nothing to do with climate change or environmentalism. So, for the sake of analysis, we can ignore the parts that discuss universal child care and free college. We’ll even look past the ambitious components that include retrofitting every building in the country or coast-to-coast high-speed rails.
When you ignore all of the outrageous policy in the deal, you’re left with a premise: use government funding to facilitate a trend away from fossil fuels. There’s even a specific goal — getting to net-zero carbon emissions.
No matter what mechanism you try to achieve this goal, it’s going to cost money. The reason we use fossil fuels is because they are more cost-effective than alternatives. It’s as simple as that.
In order to maintain the level of energy production we have while achieving net-zero emissions, we’re going to have to use more expensive technologies. If that expense is subsidized by taxpayers, it’s going to cost them more money than any country has ever spent on any project in the history of the world.
AOC’s Admission
The true scale of this cost is hard to understand. The most conservative estimates around suggest that the US would have to spend tens of trillions of dollars every year to get away from carbon-based fuels. Plans that exclude nuclear or unreasonably favor solar get even more expensive.
It’s so extreme that even AOC is admitting the extreme cost. Remember, this is coming from a politician who is known for championing bumper sticker talking points over anything of substance.
If her eight-year-old intellect can acknowledge this cost, then you know there’s no affordable solution. By her own words, any meaningful reduction in American CO2 production would cost at least $10 trillion.
Before we put that number in perspective, remember that this isn’t a one-time cost. Alternative fuels will remain more expensive than fossil fuels until and unless we see a technological breakthrough. Without that breakthrough, the goal of net-zero emissions will continue to cost us money every single day.
But, even if we pretend that the $10 trillion price tag is a one-time deal, it’s still more money than America has. Sure, the GDP is nearing $20 trillion, but the amount of liquid capital in that GDP is only around $2 trillion.
If we were to tax all of our liquid capital, it would take five years to pay for this deal, and that would leave 0 dollars for any other program.
In reality, this deal would be funded by debt. An additional $10 trillion debt for a single program, if paid off by the American people, would put the average American (not household) $500,000 in debt. There’s no question that this is completely out of reach.
Out of Control Spending
Of course, this is the real point. Even the IPCC admits that the climate change we have measured is unlikely to cause any harm to anyone. Ever.
The point of spending trillions of dollars on combating climate change is to harm the economy. If we waste enough money, even the mighty American economy can collapse. That’s what the left really wants. If the great bastion of capitalism can finally be destroyed, they’ll be able to justify implementing their totalitarian, socialist agenda. This has been the point all along.
Every expensive program, from free health care to higher minimum wage, is intended to harm our economy and be a power grab for Democrats. Nobody is bad enough at basic math to believe that these are part of an affordable agenda. The left is a true enemy of capitalism in America, and they show that by championing programs that cost more money than the world has.
