AOC’s latest public pronouncement is “The Green New Deal,” which in keeping with the current fashion we will identify as “GND.” AOC, assisted by extreme progressive Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, introduced GND, and it almost immediately was endorsed by most of the big name candidates for the Democrat nomination for President. By the way, almost all of these folks also have endorsed “Medicare for All,” and are undaunted by that $32 trillion price tag over ten years, and also want to end private insurance, so it should come as little surprise that the cost of GND is something that doesn’t concern its sponsors.
But the elimination of fossil fuels and nuclear power is just one tiny part of GND, which also aspires to replace every combustion engine vehicle within ten years. That means trucks, boats, airplanes and automobiles – except for electric ones. GND will require charging stations for those vehicles “everywhere,” but there may be some issues about using them after dark or on calm days. And don’t worry about the loss of powered flight, for GND calls for connecting our communities with “High Speed Rail” (HSR). The small HSR project that California plans to produce has a price tag approaching $50 billion, of which nothing has yet been built and will only cover a tiny corridor in that state. The cost for a nationwide system – that uses no fossil fuels – is hard to calculate.
And GND is just getting started. It calls for “retrofitting every building in America” with “state of the art energy efficiency.” That means removing almost all current heating and cooling systems and who knows what else. No mention of how this is to be paid for. And also a “family-sustaining wage,” family and medical leave, vacations and a pension. It is unclear who will be paying for this, but we can make a pretty good guess.
Not satisfied with destroying our energy systems and bankrupting our medical system, and our industrial, residential and commercial properties, GND also will provide “free” college or trade-school tuition, “safe, affordable, adequate housing” for every American (also for “free,” we guess); “economic security” for those “unable or unwilling” to work [although AOC and her subordinates apparently have removed the “unwilling to work” category, it was featured in their original proposal]. We assume this will be paid for by those “willing” to work.
Oh, GND also wants to eliminate the beef and dairy industries. We think this is because of the methane that cattle. . . err. . .”generate,” but it has the additional appeal to the sensibilities of the trend-conscious vegans, vegetarians, PETA, and sundry other groups. Those who do not ascribe to similar beliefs had better conform.
What is the cost of all of this? According to Bloomberg TV, roughly $6.6 trillion per year. That is over one-third of America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and about triple our government’s revenue.
GND will not only require more money than anyone has, but also will require a bigger, more powerful government than almost all of us want, and it will be, of necessity, a very coercive government indeed, to compel all of these changes within ten years. And we know it can’t be much more than ten years, because AOC already has declared that due to climate change, the world will end within twelve years, so there isn’t much time to waste.