FILE – In this Jan. 19, 2019, file photo, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-New York) waves to the crowd after speaking at Women’s Unity Rally in Lower Manhattan in New York. Democrats including Ocasio-Cortez of New York and veteran Sen. Ed Markey of Mass. are calling for a Green New Deal intended to transform the U.S. economy to combat climate change and create jobs in renewable energy. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) recently proposed their Green New Deal, designed to thwart economic inequality and climate change in a move so progressive it would make even Ralph Nader expel a biodegradable brick from his hind quarters. The only problem: the Green New Deal has more holes in it than the ozone layer.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, the new Fresh Face™ of the Democratic Party, has been leading the charge over the past several weeks and Republicans are officially pouncing.
So. Much. Pouncing.
President Trump derided the bill as a “massive government takeover that would destroy the incredible economic gains [of the Trump administration],” adding that it “sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark.”
The president is right. This bill is an abominable cesspool of flagrantly vacuous idiocy; a blazing heap of unsophisticated, extremist naiveté indicative of the radical leftism melting the Democratic Party. This legislation reeks so badly that even Speaker Pelosi seemingly desires to plug her nose.
“[The Green New Deal] will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive. The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it, right?” Exactly. Nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), a candidate for president, tweeted, “I’m proud to co-sponsor @AOC and @EdMarkey’s Green New Deal. We must aggressively tackle climate change which poses an existential threat to our nation.” Either she didn’t read it, or she is a wildly, radical leftist. I’m going to bet on both horses.
So, why are Republicans pouncing?
The Green New Deal promises “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work.” Gone are the days of needing a job. The government (taxpayers who actually have jobs) will now subsidize Americans’ addiction to daytime television.
The bill promises to rid the United States of carbon emissions within the next ten years without the use of nuclear power. For context, approximately 86 percent of America’s energy comes from fossil fuels and nuclear power, while only 11 percent is renewable energy like, for example, wind, which comprises about 2.4 percent of U.S. energy output. Apparently, one hundred percent of American energy will be renewable within the next ten years.
It calls for “upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximum energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort and durability.” America has approximately 120 million buildings.
Additionally, the deal will provide universal healthcare and free education. A single-payer healthcare system would cost between $1.3 trillion and $2.8 trillion annually. Free college tuition would cost the federal government an estimated $70 billion annually to cover just 67 percent of the burden, according to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ own lowball estimate, with the states paying the remaining 33 percent.
The Green New Deal pledges to “[guarantee] a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States.” So, the government, not private companies within the free market, will determine how many jobs need to be created and, presumably, who will do what. That’s called centralized government. This is blatant communism.
Air travel will no longer be a thing because the deal plans to eliminate planes and replace them with “high-speed trains” to transport folks from New York to Los Angeles. That’s so environmentally friendly! Too bad about your vacation to the Bahamas, though. Even Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) was amused, noting “That would be pretty hard for Hawaii.”
The deal also plans to “build charging stations everywhere.” Everywhere.
With the Green New Deal set to stand trial on the Senate floor, it’s fair to wonder who’s going to pay for it.
The rich, obviously. They’ll pay for it all.
An estimated $6.6 trillion per year. That’s more than three times the amount of tax revenue collected on an annual basis by the federal government, equal to 34% of U.S. GDP. Raising taxes and operating in a dangerously massive deficit seems to be the answer. The problem is that the one percent already pays more than the bottom ninety percent combined in taxes. Either everyone’s taxes are going up or the Green New Deal is going extinct. Either way, it’s unaffordable.
The Green New Deal is what we call a pie in the sky. Only this pie is spoiled rotten. Don’t indulge too much or you’ll get sick.
I’m nauseous just writing about it.
Kevin Catapano is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at kevin.catapano@uconn.edu.
