Pirate's Cove

I know, you’re totally shocked that “climate change” really has little to do with science

6 ways to promote economic equality and climate action at the same time

At a rally in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and fellow liberal Democrats such as Rep. Barbara Lee of California unveiled a national agenda for greater economic equality. The 13-point “Progressive Agenda,” which was heavily influenced by Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz’s new 100-page report for the Roosevelt Institute on policy solutions to income inequality, is a left-wing wish list meant to echo Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract with America.

“The Progressive Agenda” includes plenty of popular, and populist, ideas, from raising the minimum wage to mandating paid employee sick leave. The emphasis is on correcting a system that has been rigged for the benefit of corporations and the wealthy, particularly through the tax code, and replacing it with a fairer system that rewards labor rather than just wealth. The agenda would do a lot to help the U.S. catch up to the policies of other developed countries that have more equitable income and wealth distributions.

Notably absent, though, is practically anything to do with the fossil fuel economy, suburban sprawl, and the policies that prop them up, which are bad for both regular Americans and the climate. De Blasio’s agenda contains a token reference to environmental protection, along with labor rights, as something that shouldn’t be sacrificed to global trade deals. Stiglitz makes brief mention of a carbon tax. But many sources of inequality related to the dirty energy economy — and sources of opportunity that arise from a shift to a clean economy — go unmentioned.

Then we get as the money quote

To help progressive leaders develop such a plan, here’s a list of six policies that would help cut carbon pollution, clean up the air, strengthen our cities, and redistribute tax dollars from fossil fuel companies and rich individuals to the poor and middle class.

The ideas are exactly what you’d expect, long on fossil fuels hatred, a carbon tax, eliminating the home mortgage deduction (because you evil people buy homes in the suburbs, which is Bad for Hotcoldwetdry), and others, along with shifting all the money to people who haven’t earned it. If you really pay attention to what Cult of Climastrology members say and push, it’s easy to see that this whole movement has everything to do with Progressive politics and nary a thing to do with science.