If you’re a serious environmentalist, you should be infuriated by the preposterous “Green New Deal” bill championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
[Read: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unveils her ‘Green New Deal’]
As if climate change alarmists didn’t have enough problems already being taken seriously.
The bill, the details of which were reported by NPR Thursday morning, is a mishmash of world-saving platitudes, wishful thinking, and downright absurd policy proposals. For example, it calls for upgrading or replacing every single building in the country over a 10-year period to make them more environmentally friendly. This is a real thing included in a real bill championed by real members of the most powerful deliberative body in the world.
The “Green New Deal” should “be accomplished through a 10-year national mobilization that will require,” among other things, “upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification,” the nonbinding resolution states.
This is not a realistic ask. Not even close.
This is like that scene in “Casino,” where Robert De Niro’s character demands that his cooks put an “equal amount of blueberries in each muffin,” until they have exactly the correct ratio of blueberry-to-muffin. And like the cook who stares blankly at De Niro and asks, “Do you know how long that’s going to take?”, it’s impossible to read page seven of the “Green New Deal” and not ask, “Do you know how expensive that’s going to be?”
Not even Ocasio-Cortez’s aggressive 70 percent marginal tax rate on the wealthy could come close to generating the sort of coin that would be needed to see every single building in the country either replaced or upgraded to meet the requirements of the bill. But don’t worry, folks. The congresswoman’s office has an answer for all your questions about how we’re supposed to pay for things like the building upgrade requirements.
“The Federal Reserve can extend credit to power these projects and investments and new public banks can be created to extend credit. There is also space for the government to take an equity stake in projects to get a return on investment,” they said.
But here’s the kicker: “At the end of the day, this is an investment in our economy that should grow our wealth as a nation, so the question isn’t how will we pay for it, but what will we do with our new shared prosperity.”
The NPR report announcing the details of the “Green New Deal” begins with these lines, “Whether it’s a deadly cold snap or a hole in an Antarctic glacier or a terrifying new report, there seem to be constant reminders now of the dangers that climate change poses to humanity. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., think they have a start to a solution.”
Do they, though? If they’re really serious about the “dangers that climate change poses to humanity,” perhaps they could at least come up with some practical and realistic policy solutions. The nonsense they unveiled Thursday is like a parody of what a serious environmentalist would suggest.
