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#Thread 2: Paying for the #GreenNewDeal
The Federal Budget, pt. 2
Fadhel Kaboub @FadhelKaboub
The Green New Deal will be a massive endeavor, but so was World War II. We know how to do massive endeavors. We've done them before. It's a matter of deciding to do them.
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We want to end fossil fuel extraction, but we don't want to end people's livelihoods. So the concept of 'just transition' – and guaranteed jobs, with decent wages and benefits – is central to the Green New Deal. #JobGuarantee
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Would a #JobGuarantee bankrupt the country? No; in dollars it would cost < 4% of GDP. And it would address structural unemployment and inequality and rebuild communities sustainably. We can do this.
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We won't be scared into rejecting a #JobGuarantee that benefits everybody. #MMT explains how federal taxing and spending are decoupled. We may need some taxes to offset some of the spending, but they don't have to burden working- and middle-class people and small businesses.
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A job without social support is not sufficient if somebody's mental health has been neglected. The #JobGuarantee will include support – training, counseling & legal aid – to reconnect & rebuild communities from within. #GreenNewDeal takes people as they are, where they are.
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The #JobGuarantee will protect everyone from unemployment. It will protect the marginalized, who today are the last to be hired and the first to be fired. We have the capability and the duty to ensure that the damaging consequences of unemployment no longer afflict anyone.
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The threat of unemployment is used as a scare tactic to keep people down; to keep wages down; to keep quality of life down. A #JobGuarantee will be the public option that removes this threat. It will complement and strengthen the labor movement.
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You have 100 kids at the park, but only hide 95 Easter eggs.
Five kids will find nothing.
That's just cruel.
Yet we do the same thing in the labor market: 95 jobs; 100 people looking for jobs. For what?
To put a dent in the #climatecrisis, we need all hands on deck.
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To avert climate catastrophe & improve quality of life, we need a paradigm shift. Every time we pay for hospitalization, medication, or cancer treatment, GDP goes up. Gets celebrated on TV as #economicgrowth. But growth for its own sake is the ideology of the cancer cell.
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Today, thoughtless growth drives inflation in healthcare, education, energy & transportation, and housing. #GreenNewDeal targets those areas. #MedicareForAll to reduce pricing power of profit-seeking insurers. Renewable energy to avoid inflation from a geopolitical conflict.
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The idea of no Job Guarantee but a Universal Basic Income (#ubi) is a Trojan horse for neoliberalism. Planet on fire. Millions want to work. Just give everybody a check & things will be fine? No. We need all hands on deck. #climatechange
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Even the scientists weren't sure JFK's moon mission was feasible. But we made it NASA's top priority, and funded it. Today, we have the fiscal space & brainpower for a #GreenNewDeal and a sustainable future.
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For the full video: payforgnd.org
The Federal Budget, pt. 2
by Fadhel Kaboub @FadhelKaboub
start time: 2h:30m
Please stay tuned for our next thread!
@FadhelKaboub 14/
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