Green New Deal would fail, just like the original New Deal
By David A. Ridenour
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently issued a resolution declaring a climate change emergency. The move is another attempt to raise support for Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, a plan to halt climate change by transitioning America to clean energy sources within just 10 years.
Like its 1930s namesake, the Green New Deal would require massive government interventions in the economy. And just like the original New Deal, it would fail to achieve its main goals. In fact, it would impoverish millions of Americans and decrease living standards nationwide.
The New Deal began in 1933 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act, giving the executive branch the power to set wages and prices across the country. FDR and his advisors believed the federal government could end the Great Depression by pouring money into the economy. The more workers were paid, the more they could spend — and the higher prices were, the more they would have to spend.
Today, many economists and historians agree that these policies backfired. Since government-mandated wage hikes made it harder for companies to pay their employees, total hours worked decreased during the New Deal.
The New Deal raised wages but made it much more difficult to find work. Overall, unemployment was 25 percent higher than it would have been without the NIRA’s interference.
All told, the New Deal might have prolonged the Great Depression by seven years. The gross national product at the time would have been 27 percent higher without New Deal policies.
The Green New Deal would similarly crush poor Americans today. Low-income Americans already spend a higher than average percentage of their income on energy. These costs will only increase as fossil fuels are heavily taxed. Electricity costs would skyrocket.
The Green New Deal also calls for every home and building in America to be retrofitted for energy efficiency. This could cost up to $100,000 per home and much more for larger structures, resulting in a massive increase in the cost of living. Farmers and ranchers aren’t exempt from the Green New Deal, so the plan would cause an increase in food prices as well.
Wage inflation is also a central part of the Green New Deal, which promises to “create millions of high-wage jobs.” As the New Deal era proves, this is easier said than done. Wage hikes increase unemployment.
The Roosevelt administration’s tax increases and labor regulations forced the closure of many businesses. And the Green New Deal is similarly shortsighted. To reach zero net-carbon emissions in 10 years, the government would regulate and ultimately prohibit the use of affordable energy sources. This would trigger a massive decline in industrial productivity and result in mass layoffs.
The best environmental outcomes result not from government fiat, but from national prosperity and free-market innovation. The United States has slashed energy carbon emissions by 13 percent since 2005, thanks to its increased reliance on natural gas, which produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than coal.
The New Deal prolonged the Great Depression it was meant to end. Almost a century later, the Green New Deal would prove just as counterproductive. This crusade for environmental and economic justice would actually lead to more pollution and poverty.
David A. Ridenour is president of The National Center for Public Policy Research, a research foundation dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
How to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or letter to the editor to The Independent
Do you have something to say? Want your voice to be heard by thousands of readers? Send The Independent your letter to the editor or guest opinion piece. All submissions will be considered for publication by our editorial staff. If your letter or editorial is accepted, it will run on suindependent.com, and we’ll promote it through all of our social media channels. We may even decide to include it in our monthly print edition. Just follow our simple submission guidelines and make your voice heard:
—Submissions should be between 300 and 1,500 words.
—Submissions must be sent to editor@infowest.com as a .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf file.
—The subject line of the email containing your submission should read “Letter to the editor.”
—Attach your name to both the email and the document file (we don’t run anonymous letters).
—If you have a photo or image you’d like us to use and it’s in .jpg format, at least 1200 X 754 pixels large, and your intellectual property (you own the copyright), feel free to attach it as well, though we reserve the right to choose a different image.
—If you are on Twitter and would like a shout-out when your piece or letter is published, include that in your correspondence and we’ll give you a mention at the time of publication.
Articles related to “Green New Deal would fail, just like the original New Deal”
The Green New Deal is proof that environmentalists can’t do math
More lies and propaganda from another “conservative think tank.”
Can’t wait until you people are crushed.
I’m so tired of hearing that the economy is more important than the environment. The pockets of CEO’s and shareholders will never be worth leaving behind a diseased world for our children.
I’ll never understand how people can just keep licking the boots of the people who put smog in their air and tailings in their rivers.