Dana Mathewson

The Democrats' shiny new object supposedly earned high marks in her college economics classes. It is mystifying to see how, when she pushes the ideas detailed in this article. What is truly frightening is that the Left is enthusiastically buying every word of it.

Incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., pledged to voters she would be a far-left outsider who would push her party toward adopting "democratic socialist” policies, including universal health care and free college tuition. So far, she has kept her promise.

Ocasio-Cortez has been calling for the creation of "Green New Deal” legislation, which would eliminate much of the United States’ fossil-fuel consumption [emphasis mine]. So far, Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and 40 House Democrats have said they support the proposal.

Although the broad talking points of the plan have been circulating for months, it wasn’t until recently that Ocasio-Cortez provided any details of her proposal. On December 3, according to The Atlantic, Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a town hall led by Sanders and declared, "This is going to be the New Deal, the Great Society, the moon shot, the civil-rights movement of our generation."

The specifics have still not been worked out, but what we know so far about her plan is that it would have catastrophic economic consequences, dramatically increase America’s already skyrocketing debt, and transform the United States into a European-style socialist nation. (And no, these are not exaggerations.)

In a draft resolution to create a House select committee that would be responsible for writing the Green New Deal legislation, Ocasio-Cortez outlines the primary goals of her plan. Among them, Ocasio-Cortez proposes eliminating all fossil-fuel-powered electricity, closing every coal and natural gas power plant in the country, thus destroying the hundreds of thousands of jobs related to these businesses. Even more stunning, all this would occur by 2030, just 10 years after Ocasio-Cortez expects the legislation to be completed.

In its place, nearly all energy would be produced by renewable sources of power, especially wind and solar. This goal would create massive amounts of economic harm. Although economists have yet to provide an analysis of Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to eliminate all fossil fuels, other studies have found less-extreme policies would be absolutely devastating. A study published in October 2018 by Capital Alpha Partners on behalf of the Institute for Energy Research found a national tax on carbon dioxide would cost the U.S. economy $4.21 trillion to $5.98 trillion, depending on the tax level chosen, in just the first 10 years of the tax scheme. By 2040, as much as $12.32 trillion would be lost. Nearly one-quarter of the country’s GDP, relative to what it would otherwise be, could be lost as a result of a nationwide carbon-dioxide tax. And this far left-wing plan is nowhere near as radical as Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.

 

Dear readers, this idea of generating "most" of our power by "renewable" sources (wind and solar) is totally unworkable. Alexandria should sit down and have a nice heart-to-heart with Angela Merkel and find out how well it worked for Germany (hint: it didn't).

Entire story here: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/if-ocasio-cortezs-green-new-deal-succeeds-in-2019-it-will-be-the-most-radical-plan-offered-in-decades

One can only hope that once she gets her feet wet as a Congressperson, her more experienced colleagues take her aside and give her a nice talking-to. However, that new bunch of leftists who will be sworn in next month may cause more trouble than we expect. San Fran Nan is going to have her shaky, wrinkled hands full! So will the House Majority Leader -- probably Steny Hoyer, who looks pretty old and decrepit himself.

Posted by: ons at December 28, 2023 09:15 PM (7Pon7)

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