The Green New Deal

                The Green New Deal is here! Direct from the facile minds of Rep. Alexandria Occasional-Cortex (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). With the full-throated support of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Cal.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Corey (Call Me ‘Spartacus’) Booker (D-N.J.), and Al (It’s Embarrassing I’m Still Alive After Predicting A ‘True Planetary Emergency’ Within 10 Years…13 Years Ago) Gore. This plan is kind of, um, bold and far-reaching, so let’s dive right in to the particulars. Here is what the “GND” would entail:

                *Banning all traditional forms of energy in ten years, including oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear. Which necessitates…

                *The complete elimination of every “combustion-engine vehicle” within ten years. Say good-bye to boats, airplanes, trucks and cars. These are to be replaced by electric trains and cars. Don’t worry, charging stations will be “everywhere.” Although we don’t know what will give charge to the ubiquitous charging stations. I guess we’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it. Which leads us to…

                *Infrastructure. Will “Build out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.” These trains will have to really be flying if they are going to be practical to take from, say, New York to London or Los Angeles to Tokyo! Oh, and the plan is also to “Upgrade or replace every building in the U.S. for state-of-the-art energy efficiency” and carbon neutrality. How many buildings are in the U.S.? More than the number of people? There will be when…

                *The government will provide “Safe, affordable, adequate housing” for every American citizen.

                *The GND goal is to provide “healthy food” to every single American citizen (and, assumedly, illegal alien). There will be dramatically less beef on the menu, that’s for sure, as…

                *The GND also aims to reduce the number of “farting cows.” Maybe if we also provided “healthy food” to the bovine bastards they’d fart less. Oh, wait, they already have an all-plant diet. So, what do we do? Not to worry, we’ll figure it out, as…

                *This plan mandates a free college or trade school education for every American. But what if you wanted to go into a field or trade that has been eliminated by the Raw  Green New Deal? Still no problem…

                *The bill promises that Uncle Sam will provide every American with a job that guarantees a “family-sustaining wage, family and medical leave, vacations, and a pension.” The jobs clearly won’t be in boat, plane or automobile manufacturing, repair or sales. Or in the coal, natural gas, oil, fracking or nuclear energy industries. Or in raising cattle. But this won’t matter, since…

                *The plan provides “economic security” for everyone. Including those who are “unwilling” to work. We’ll just send someone around to hand out other people’s money to the indolent.

                Except that, no one will be willing to work if they will have their earnings taken away from them via the punitive tax rates which will be necessary under this plan (though still not nearly enough to pay for it). Especially since they will be given a guaranteed income even if they aren’t willing to work. There will be no one to rebuild every structure in the United States, build out high-speed rail, teach our kids, or to walk around handing out money to the willfully unemployed. 

               Neither AOC nor her cohorts profess to know just how the GND would be paid for. Or how much it will cost. Details, details. AOC does admit that the cost to repair and upgrade U.S. infrastructure alone would be $4.6 trillion “at minimum.” Which is unfortunate given that instituting a 70 percent top marginal tax rate is estimated to raise only about $700 billion over a decade. She also admits, “even if every billionaire and company came together and were willing to pour all the resources at their disposal into this investment, the aggregate value of the investments they could make would not be sufficient.” So, she says, perhaps “The Federal Reserve can extend credit to power these projects and investments and new public banks can be created to extend credit.” In other words, print money and hope for the best. She does know, however, that the GND requires massive government intervention. When asked by a reporter recently if she was prepared to openly state that, “what this requires is massive government intervention?” she answered, “It does, yeah, I have no problem saying that.”

    So, if we bankrupted every individual and company in the nation, we still wouldn’t have near enough money to fund this massive societal transformation. Then why do it? Because “Even the solutions that we have considered big and bold are nowhere near the scale of the actual problem that climate change presents to us,” says Ocasio-Cortez.  I say again, then why do it?! Why ruin the economy and hand government control over every aspect of our lives when even this won’t be near enough to combat climate change?

               In jarring juxtaposition to her aforementioned statements, Occasional-Cortex proves she herself is more insane than her plan, by saying: “The question isn’t how will we pay for it, but what will we do with our new shared prosperity.” This is the mother of all disconnects: We will borrow ourselves rich…beyond our wildest dreams!

               AOC and Markey claim that a majority of Democrats and some Republicans support the Green Shrew Spiel  Green New Deal, though that claim, too, is unsupported by any evidence. A December poll by Yale and George Mason universities purportedly showed that 81 percent of registered voters surveyed supported the concept of a Green New Deal. Here is the description of the plan that those polled were shown: “Some members of Congress are proposing a ‘Green New Deal’ for the U.S. They say that a Green New Deal will produce jobs and strengthen America’s economy by accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. The Deal would generate 100% of the nation’s electricity from clean, renewable sources within the next 10 years; upgrade the nation’s energy grid, buildings, and transportation infrastructure; increase energy efficiency; invest in green technology research and development; and provide training for jobs in the new green economy.” This description was followed by the question “How much do you support or oppose this idea?” 40% said they “strongly supported” the plan and 41% said they “somewhat” supported the plan. 

 Despite the description’s wording, which is obviously and disingenuously designed to elicit a positive response, no sentient being who has even a perfunctory knowledge of world history or economics-- or a modicum of common sense—could answer in the affirmative.

 It is therefore equally obvious that America is 100% screwed. GND. (Genuinely No Doubt).