Posted on 12/25/2018 5:46:45 PM PST by vannrox
Democrats are lining up to support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal.”
The proposal could be the largest expansion of government since the Great Society or New Deal.
Ocasio-Cortez’s plan could cost tens of trillions of dollars.
Democrats are increasingly lining up to support a “Green New Deal,” which, while vague on details, could end up being the largest expansion of government in decades.
As it stands, the “Green New Deal” is more aspirational than actual policy. Indeed, it takes its name from the New Deal of the 1930s, and its main backer, incoming Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, compared it to the Great Society of the 1960s.
More than 40 Democratic lawmakers support the “Green New Deal” as part of a broad plan to fight global warming and bring about what they see as “economic, social and racial justice.” A poll found most Americans supported the deal, but knew little about it.
But the big question is when Americans find out what’s in the “Green New Deal,” will they be willing to pay for it?
Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” calls for creating a House committee to draft legislation to fight global warming and turn the U.S. economy into something akin to what Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders envisions. Indeed, the “Green New Deal” could be a preview of what policies the Democratic Party will back in the 2020 elections.
“This is going to be the New Deal, the Great Society, the moon shot, the civil-rights movement of our generation,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a panel event in early December alongside Sanders, a likely 2020 presidential contender.
Those goals include moving the U.S. to 100 percent green energy, federal job guarantees for workings forced out of their fossil fuel jobs, guaranteed minimum income and universal health care.
Democrats will take control of the House in 2019 and many want to see global warming become a central part of their agenda. Republicans are unlikely to go along with a green deal in any form, and cracks are even appearing among Democrats on climate policy.
Since the “Green New Deal” lacks specifics, it’s hard to gauge the total cost, but similar climate and welfare policies are estimated to cost trillions of dollars.
For starters, moving the U.S. to a 100-percent renewable electric grid could cost as much as $5.2 trillion over two decades, according to a 2010 study by the conservative Heritage Foundation. That’s about $218 billion to move the grid away from coal and natural gas.
On top of that, the non-energy-related portions of the Green New Deal could cost trillions more, including universal health care and guaranteed income.
The libertarian Mercatus Center released a study in July that found Sanders’s “Medicare for All” plan would cost $32.6 trillion over 10 years. That same month, hedge-fund manager Ray Dalio estimated the cost to taxpayers of a universal basic income policy would top $3.8 trillion a year — and that’s assuming every American citizen got just $12,000 a year.
For comparison, the Great Society policies pursued by the Johnson administration during the 1960s cost $22 trillion, according to estimates from the Heritage Foundation. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” of the 1930s during the Great Depression cost $500 billion in today’s dollars, The Nation reported in 2008.
Of course, both the New Deal and Great Society have left U.S. taxpayers on the hook for trillions in debt and unfunded liabilities — somewhere between $87 trillion and $222 trillion.
[Do we really have to spell everything out for you. She has a degree in economics, so she can’t be wrong.]
True. She’s brilliant!
I'll give Macron credit. He put the cost of being an eco-warrior right out there in front, at the pumps, for all to experience first-hand. Put up or shut up. France said, "Screw this!"
Americans talk a great game about "going green" while pumping <$2/gal gas into their tanks. It's easy to do. When gas is $7.64/gallon and $5 of that is to pay for AOC's "Green New Deal" America might not be so supportive.
It really is, like Lord of the Flies. They have found their mistress: Alexandra. They will push back the planned publication date of “The Wisdom of Nancy Pelosi” and nominate AOC for Nobel Peace Prize, she won’t have to do even as much as 0bama didn’t do. Why, she should get the Nobel Prize just for being current on her Washington DC apartment rent.
Yes.
Very well put.
The Dems are planning to pitch this thusly: “Yes, we will tax you out the wazoo to force you to reduce fossil fuel consumption. But, don’t worry. We will rebate all the collected taxes back to you so you’ll come out even.”
Most voters are stupid enough to fall for that ruse.
[Most voters are stupid enough to fall for that ruse.]
If most voters were that stupid, they would have voted for Obama, not once, but twice.
Oh, wait....
Even larger budget-busters than those created by Obama and George W. Bush, the last “reasonable and competent” presidents?
Sad no one realizes our country is bankrupt.
China realizes it, though. They are going to cut through us like a hot knife through butter.
Bump
Yeah. Via the 2nd. Amendment.
Lining up behind someone who is just as stupid as they are
We can thank the spineless despicable republicans who
refuse to crush them
This will be fun when it dawns on these childern that only thing they are going to get is NOTHING.
Of the many posts, yours is one of the few that makes sense. The House can do whatever it wants. But if my memory is correct, a bill needs Senate approval before it goes to Trump. And then, like you say, if Trump signs it.
I just do not see what the panic on FR is all about. The Dems are not in charge of the whole govt.
Yes.
And they get to vote.
And they outnumber us.
Plan accordingly
Of green energy was effective, efficient and profitable wouldn’t it be a great capitalist investment? If government has to subsidize it, who are the ones profiting from this so called “free money”? Con game, scam, both? Maybe the elites should privately find it, they have the money, invest it in green energy.
Which won’t go anywhere.
It is time to go full Hutu and eliminate cockroaches
The New New New Deal.
No more Deals, they’ve all sucked.
All these outrageous plans have to originate in the House where, given that the RATS have a lock on the House, the plans should pass easily.
Next stop is the Senate. We can hope McConnell will keep putting the more idiotic plans at the bottom of his in basket. For those that come to the floor, I hope the plans will run into a bunch of dead ends.
If, by chance, the plans make it through the Senate, the last stop is President Trump. He will use his veto pen and the plans will be stopped.
It will be interesting if someone can calculate what all this wasted time and effort costs the American taxpayer.
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