Conquering crises will rebuild America
We are in the midst of five crises — health, economic, environmental, racial and political — that demand immediate action to ensure the longterm health of our democracy, economy and environment. Democratic control of the White House and Congress presents a historic opportunity to implement policies that address the economic and environmental crises using the same tools and working toward the same ends. It is a myth that you cannot have economic prosperity, and environmental and public health protection at the same time. Here is how.
The economic crisis has been brewing for 40 years. Wealth inequality is as high as it was in the 1920s. Family finances are on unstable footing. For the first time in modern history, young people are more likely to earn less than their parents.
These are the predictable results of anti-worker policy that has been designed to annually redistribute $1 trillion of income growth from the middle class to the richest Americans. Deunionization, deindustrialization, automation and globalization have made people insecure and anxious. They’ve watched their income stagnate while the cost of education rises beyond their means. They often drink contaminated water and breathe dirty air. They’ve watched opportunity pass them by.
We need to understand the causes of why people feel left behind and offer workable solutions.
The COVID -19 pandemic and the Trump administration’s disastrous response did not cause our economic crisis; it exposed and intensified it. Make no mistake, the recession has been severe. Eight million more people have fallen into poverty. Nearly 11 million people are unemployed. The most vulnerable — minorities, women and low-wage workers — are especially feeling the economic sting.
At the same time, climate change threatens our health and children’s future. Four years of promoting oil and gas drilling by the Trump administration intensified the environmental crisis. Reversing it requires bold leadership at every level of government, and in the civic and business community. Last year matched 2016 for the hottest year on record. The impacts of this trend are staggering. Heat deaths, more intense hurricanes, raging wildfires, crop damage and rising sea levels have gotten worse due to our warming planet. They’ve inflicted not only environmental costs, but economic ones as well.
The Biden-harris administration has assembled a team of experts that represent our best hope of reversing course. Some policy shifts are obvious: ending fossil fuel subsidies and plastics development, in addition to the pipelines, power plants and ethane cracker plants that accompany it. The aim is to make massive investments in clean energy and create good jobs. Retrofit public buildings and housing to reduce energy demand. Support the swift siting of wind, solar and geothermal facilities. Improve mass transit and restore Obama era fuel efficiency standards. Boost recycling — it saves energy in manufacturing. Use the procure
The COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration’s disastrous response did not cause our economic crisis; it exposed and intensified it.
ment power of the federal government to purchase clean energy and clean transportation. And finally, following the lead of governments, universities, and religious institutions around the globe: Divest from fossil fuels and plastics production.
All of these policies will shift government investment from dirty industries to clean ones. While employment and output in the former will fall, growth will occur in the latter by creating good jobs, improving local air quality and slowing climate change. Growing the economy and promoting environmental sustainability are not trade-offs — they are complements.
Investment in clean energy and infrastructure is needed. Now. And we can afford it. Currently, the government can borrow for an interest rate less than 1 percent. If a project yields a rate of return greater than 1 percent — like infrastructure investment, which generates returns more than 10 percent — the government will be able to not only be able to pay back creditors, but reduce the deficit and generate economic growth. Additionally, taxes on billionaires could be raised substantially to generate new revenue.
We are not robbing future generations by borrowing money to invest in economic and environmental infrastructure. Rather, we are making them wealthier by creating an economy that provides more opportunity while addressing climate change.
This is a rare opportunity for Democrats and responsible Republicans to show that government investment in and regulation of the economy is the solution to, not the cause of, our current crises. If our leaders do not act immediately and on a large scale, the consequences will be difficult to imagine — a more unequal and divided society, more polarized politics, more distrust of institutions, more climate change. A multitrillion-dollar investment in combating inequality and climate change can rebuild American society by creating the conditions for shared economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.