Coronavirus Government Restrictions: Preview of Green New Deal
Coronavirus Government Restrictions: Preview of Green New Deal
Due to the coronavirus (CV) pandemic, much of the US economy
has been forcefully shut down to reduce social interaction. The central
government has posted guidelines that are being followed in most states. Also,
some companies have been forced to produce medical devices and PPE. In effect,
government at some level has seized control of most of the economy.
Since the shutdown has caused the private economy to hemorrhage
money and people are being thrown out of work, a $2.2 trillion spending law,
the CARES Act, has been passed to “help”. This $2.2T is 100% borrowed – because
the central government does not have that kind of money in pocket change. The
2020 budget before CV contains a $1T deficit. The CARES Act money will add at
least $2.2T to the deficit this year. But it will likely be even more – if the
private economy is sputtering along, the government is collecting much less in
taxes. The current national debt (the sum of all past annual deficits) is
estimated to be $24,235,640,500,000 on April 13, 2020. IF we suddenly stopped
borrowing today, and IF we waived all interest on the debt, it would take 768,000
years to pay off.
The Green New Deal (henceforth GND), a document that would
make Karl Marx proud, would seize control of all buildings to “upgrad[e] all
existing buildings in the United States … to achieve maximum energy efficiency,
water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including
through electrification…”. In other words, government would seize control of
all buildings. The GND is supposed to provide all electricity and water – but no
natural gas, which would be eliminated, despite its low-carbon combustion. It
would provide training and education. It would provide housing. On & on
& on, with control, control, control.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the GND’s proponents, said it
would cost $16 trillion over 10 years. Bloomberg’s Noah Smith estimates it
would cost more like $66T over 10 years. And since the GND would actually kill
off some industries, the government’s tax base would shrink. If you think the national
debt is bad now, imagine what more than doubling the central government’s
budget would do to the debt.
Government control and spending to combat CV has drastically
reduced our liberties and killed jobs. The CARES act had drastically increased
government spending. These are supposed to be temporary, and I hope they are. But
the GND would expand government control over us for years – at best. It would
do the same for spending – at best. But, as the great economist Milton Friedman
said, “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”
The silver lining of the fight against CV is that it gives
us a taste of what the GND would be like – a bitter pill to swallow, indeed.
Labels: coronavirus, COVID-19, Green New Deal