,
10 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
The real problem with the GND (which my alternative plan tries to address) isn't that you shouldn't marry economic and environmental policy.
It's that if you end up deeply hurting your economy with BAD economic policy, it's going to end up hurting the climate too.
It's that if you end up deeply hurting your economy with BAD economic policy, it's going to end up hurting the climate too.
Imagine if China et al. saw us try a big bold plan to decarbonize our economy that ended up falling apart and sending us into an economic tailspin. It wouldn't have to be "Venezuela" bad, just somewhat bad.
That would warn China away from decarbonizing, don't you think?
That would warn China away from decarbonizing, don't you think?
It's fine to package economic policies with environmental policies. Just make them GOOD ones! Make sure they're things that make the economy more fair and equal while also not substantially reducing the nation's wealth!
That's why my Alternative Green New Deal proposal focuses on things that will probably be good for the economy - government health care, better education, green jobs. And includes taxes to at least partially pay for these things.
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
The original Green New Deal makes a lot of highly optimistic assumptions about the return on investment from various economic programs, asserting - with very little evidence - that things that look like they cost a lot will end up growing the economy a lot.
I'm skeptical.
I'm skeptical.
If we're playing for the future of the planet, we need to avoid taking huge risks. Yes, include economic policy, but don't stuff every single highly speculative goal in there and just assume it'll all pay for itself. That's setting us - and the climate - up for a fall.
Frankly, some of the stuff in the original GND looked like EU bureaucrats' planning targets - stuff that sounds good on paper but doesn't actually get done (a less charitable comparison would be Soviet 5-year plans).
My plan, on the other hand, mostly sticks to economic stuff that we know works, because we've seen it work in other rich countries - govt. health care, cheaper education, worker bargaining power, higher taxes - or stuff like green jobs that we know we need for the environment.
Basically, you could characterize my plan as "careful social democracy combined with aggressive international-focused environmental policy":
Yes, the economic stuff in my plan is less transformative than the original GND. But it would still be pretty transformative. And it's a lot safer, since it avoids any risk of economic disaster that could scare the rest of the world away from following in our footsteps.
(end)
(end)
