Green With... Laughter?

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez launches her Intersectional Environmentalism proposal to de-carbonize the US economy and solve every social problem within ten years.

Megan Mcardle, David Harsanyi and Jon Chait wack the pinata. I'll give Megan props for the best headline:

‘We’re nuts!’ isn’t a great pitch for a Green New Deal

But this proposal, and especially the accompanying (and withdrawn) fact sheet isn't merely ludicrously ambitious and devoid of common sense (Eliminate air travel?!? Retrofit "every" building in America?!?). It also reveals a stunning absence of basic knowledge of history and public finance.

One wonders whether Ms. AOC actually has the time and temperament to collaborate with experts and study an issue (yet another reason she is the Trump of the left!). Or did Democratic leadership cut her loose and send the real Washington hands off on other projects? Let her primary herself!

On to specifics. This passage on how the extreme environmental makeover might be financed may have sounded great in a college dorm. A freshman dorm. But this is a frightening level of ignorance about the structure, legal authorities, independence and role of the Federal Reserve when it comes from a Congressperson as part of a legislative package (my emphasis):

How will you pay for it?

The same way we paid for the New Deal, the 2008 bank bailout and extended quantitative easing programs. The same way we paid for World War II and all our current wars. The Federal Reserve can extend credit to power these projects and investments and new public banks can be created to extend credit. There is also space for the government to take an equity stake in projects to get a return on investment. At the end of the day, this is an investment in our economy that should grow our wealth as a nation, so the question isn’t how will we pay for it, but what will we do with our new shared prosperity.

Ah, well, what? The Federal Reserve is an independent entity - it won't be financing this green agenda just because AOC thinks it ought to. As to their legal authority, well, it is widely agreed the Fed can purchase government backed debt. They crept beyond that during the 2008 financial meltdown and used their lending authority to finance parts of the AIG bailout in what was widely perceived as an dire, backs against the wall, emergency meltdown scenario. But it is not at all obvious why an independent Fed would choose to finance these green projects or whether it would be within their legal scope.

Back on the history front, this JFK/Ike/FDR nostalgia is ahistorical nonsense:

Americans love a challenge. This is our moonshot.

When JFK said we’d go to the by the end of the decade, people said impossible.

If Eisenhower wanted to build the interstate highway system today, people would ask how we’d pay for it.

When FDR called on America to build 185,000 planes to fight World War 2, every business leader, CEO, and general laughed at him... At the time, the U.S. had produced 3,000 planes in the last year. By the end of the war, we produced 300,000 planes. That’s what we are capable of if we have real leadership.

One at a time: Kennedy first laid out the man-on-the-moon vision in May 1961. The US was losing the space race to the Soviet Union, which had the first satellite and the first man in space (their legacy rocket program from WWII gave them a head start).

Did people say "impossible"? The relevant Senate Committee unanimously approved funding a few weeks later. Polling was scattered: per Forbes, in 1959 52% thought a man on the moon was doable within 20 years; in early 1961, 65% approved of the attempt. Well, until the price tag was announced: per Wikipedia, 58% opposed the use of funds for that purpose. But "impossible"? Not seeing it.

And Ike? Well, he didn't wait for people to ask how we'd pay for the highway program - he asked Congress to extend the gasoline tax in his original proposal. No, fiscal conservatism wasn't invented last weekend to thwart Green Dreams.

As to FDR, my goodness: his speech calling for a massive rearmament effort was delivered on May 15, 1940, five days after Germany began their invasion of France. The French collapse along the Meuse was well underway, although the public (and possibly Allied military leadership) may not have been fully aware. The Times front page, with the Roosevelt speech in the upper left:

Although AOC is surely hearing laughter today, people were not laughing in May of 1940 (Geez, did she see "Churchill"? "Dunkirk"? How about "Avengers - Infinity War"?). In fact, FDR pressed into service William Knudsen, the head of General Motors, to dial up America's industrial base. Here is how historian Arthur Herman described Knudsen's approach:

“I’m no soldier,” Knudsen told Roosevelt when he got to Washington that May, “But I know if we get into war, the winning of it will be purely a question of material production.” He persuaded FDR that three steps were needed to get America’s businesses and factories ready for getting back to work, and getting ready for war.

The first was to rethink Roosevelt’s own anti-business instincts, and to bring industry leaders into the administration to deal with the production crisis.

The second was to scrap many of the New Deal’s anti-business regulations and tax policies, in order to give businesses an incentive to switch to wartime production and hire workers, retool, and expand their plants.

The third was to take control of the war mobilization process away from Washington bureaucrats and give it to America’s most innovative and productive companies.

That sounds sort of the opposite of the AOC plan to put the government in charge of everything.

Well. Other than showing no grasp of common sense, history or public finance I would say AOC is good to go.

Comments

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by President Trump. Link goes to article.

Adam Schiff, Glenn Simpson and their Forrest Gump-like encounter in Aspen https://t.co/j2lqrxflGH

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) February 7, 2019

[MissMarple2]

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hulu-feature-conspiracy-theory-films-like-loose-change-2019-2

Conspiracy is in the eye of the beholder.

When I take a look at the numbers of married people and siblings who somehow get into elected office while having a spouse or sibling in a media position (always democrat, it seems) I start to wonder ...

[MissMarple2]

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai,PhD (M.I.T.) Inventor of Email
‏Verified account @va_shiva
1h1 hour ago

How many of the 535 members of Congress could get a job requiring skills in the American Labor market today?

[Narciso79]

Forrest gump is too charitable, Simpson is a criminal conspirator in this snipe hunt.

[Narciso79]

In the 80s there was low grade lawfare against watt and Gorsuch mid level against meese and then there was interference with foreign policy with the boland amendment which resulted in Iran contra,

[MissMarple2]

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/02/08/maher-we-forget-at-our-peril-how-many-people-vote-on-the-wall-and-the-womb/

[Old Lurker]

MM "How many of the 535 members of Congress could get a job requiring skills in the American Labor market today?"

Does "lobbying congress" count as a job?

[MissMarple2]

Surber reminds us about judges:

https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2019/02/44-reasons-to-love-lindsey-graham.html?spref=tw

[pagar]

Old Lurker, "wants to know if you have special requests when he restocks next week."
There was a real clear bottle of something (I think it was called Old Overcoat or something like that. Tasted like high grade kerosene). The guy who was married to my niece for a while drank it.

[Narciso79]

I think our standards are too low, their job is to put forth a budget within the time allowed and approve nominees that the mere minimum, also dismiss employees who dont come up to snuff,

[sbwaters]

Old Overholt. There is a bottle in the basement.

Along with a bottle of Lambrusco.

[sbwaters]

daddy, looking west north west, following the Parramatta River, was my high school as an AFS exchange student when I was sixteen.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-met-chicago-mayor-race-bill-daley-kass-20190208-story.html

How the Chicago mayoral race is looking - and Daley acts like it is owed to him.

[Tom R]

I didn’t get to watch Whitaker’s testimony and none of the articles I have read about it go into much detail. Is Cates correctly interpreting what Whitaker said about Huber and his investigation?

https://twitter.com/drawandstrike/status/1094127840956743682?s=21

[Narciso79]

Remember Daley was the big gun Clinton used to pitch NAFTA 25 years later that didnt work out so well.

[Jane]

Why the hell would anyone announce their run for President in Lawrence, MA. It's been a ghetto since I was a kid. I grew up in the next town and as a kid was not allowed to go there. I actually lived there for about 6 months in the 70's and was scared to death. She had to ship all those people in, I'm sure.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Glad it worked for you pagar!

[Narciso79]

Well she couldn't go to southie, they'd see through her in an instant, remember she pitched her tent on oprah and camembert for at least a decade.

[hoyden]

Jane, Happy Birth Day! You had that clarity from childhood and you stayed true to yourself. Thanks for sharing.

66...2/3 of 666.

I got to 66 Feb 4.

Good times!

[Jim,SunnyvaleCA,USA]

Aw shucks, pagar. :) :)
Glad yr PDF troubles are over till next year at least!

[Old Lurker]

Children, both of you.

[MissMarple2]

Having had 3 bad husbands, I am pretty sure that I won't look for any more male companionship.

I am a bad picker.

[MissMarple2]

Here is a thread on Adam Kinzinger.

https://twitter.com/sherrynron/status/1094098107510546432

Wasn't he hanging around with John McCain in Syria?

[MissMarple2]

Regarding Beto O'Rourke and his open boarder rally:

Abby Normal in Texas
‏ @Treep52
34m34 minutes ago

Do not forget, this guy and Rep. Cuellar accompanied Pelosi to Mexico City in May 2016 to meet Mexican Pres. Nieto, who had accepted $100m in bribes from El Chapo. Don't be naive, people are making money to keep that border OPEN. #BuildTheWallAndCrimeWillFall

[Rocco]

Jordan wasn't too happy with Whitaker. He questions whether Rosenstein authorized Mueller to investigate American citizens? And asks Whitaker if there are names under those redactions? Whitaker answers that they investigate crimes not people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoVTQ0JEWKo

[Rocco]

I don't know whether to wish Jane a Happy Birthday or not? I think I already have 5 or 6 times this year? What the heck...Happy Birthday Jane!

[MissMarple2]

https://www.westernjournal.com/meghan-mccain-unloads-ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-fathers-funeral/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=PostSideSharingButtons&utm_campaign=websitesharingbuttons

Complete scoop on Meghan McCain's bitchiness.

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of McRINO, someone's been attacking the View's buffet table:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6685679/Meghan-McCain-blasts-Ivanka-Trump-Jared-Kushner-attending-fathers-funeral.html

[Old Lurker]

MM "Complete scoop on Meghan McCain's bitchiness."

DNA wins everytime.

[henry]

You spelled “boot licking wing” wrong.

Kristol:

I guess I’m just from the anti-Communist wing of the Republican Party and the anti-Hitler wing of the conservative movement. Kind of old school.

[Jane]

Hoyden,

Does "666" mean I'm a witch? I was in a prior life for sure!

[Jane]

Rocco,

It's not for 19 days - but please feel free to start now!

[Captain Hate]

Kind of old school.

World's oldest occupation.

[Jane]

Rocco, that was the only part of Whitaker's testimony that really pissed me off. why not answer the question honestly?

[Jane]

Geez Hoyden we are practically twins!

[Jane]

Warren just said: "Like the woman of Lawrence".

I can't even begin to explain how ridiculous that is. They are either on welfare or in jail for the most part.

[Old Lurker]

Jane, did Hoyden lose 49.8 lbs on Keto?

[Captain Hate]

Anyone know if rich is going to the Northern Virginia Moron Meetup in Arlington tonight? I know he's been to at least one of them before.

[MissMarple2]

Julie Kelly
‏ @julie_kelly2
57s58 seconds ago

Elizabeth Warren makes Hillary Clinton look charismatic and not at all shrill

[Jane]

Elizabeth Warren's speech is disgusting. But the crowd loves it.

[Jane]

OL,

I don't think she needed to. Still got a lb to go. Clearly I've been screwing up!

[Old Lurker]

Well, you inspired me Jane. Keto-10 since Christmas. Like you, that was the goal but I like it so I set a new goal.

[Old Lurker]

Jane, actual exchange with Mrs. OL regarding Keto.

"Oh, I get it. Your wife tells you something over and over again but until some woman on your blog tells you, you won't do it..."

[MissMarple2]

https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/09/elizabeth-warren-president-2020-2/?utm_campaign=atdailycaller&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

I didn't watch, but from this article it looks like her speech was mostly based on envy and class warfare.

[Extraneus]

Yay!

(Click to open.)

[Captain Hate]

Did Pocahonkie call herself the daughter of a mailman? I hear that's a successful slogan.

[hoyden]

OL, shades of swords and lakes!

[Captain Hate]

Dirt poor but drove an MG in college. Hmmmmmmm...

[hoyden]

Ext, "(Click to open.)"

Against my intuition I did. Now where did I put my unsee widget?

[Old Lurker]

I wish I had had an MG in college.

[hoyden]

MM, "...mostly based on envy and class warfare."

It's not like Democrats have anything else to offer. Throw in some entitlement and grievance and you've got the main ingredients for any Prog policy and narrative.

[sbwaters]

I wish I had an MG now.

[MissMarple2]

Who coordinated the people dressed in blue behind her> THAT didn't look staged, did it?

[sbwaters]

Of course, if I could get myself down into it, I’d never be able to get out.

[Extraneus]

I guess she's going with blue, huh? I hope Amy wasn't planning on blue tomorrow.

I'm really looking forward to these harpies tearing each other to shreds.

[peter]

Narciso @ 9:49 am 2/9/19, kindly elucidate

[MissMarple2]

sbwaters,

That is why I drive SUV's. I like being able to swivel and stand up.

When I ride in my daughter's or my sister's sedans, it is really awful trying to get out.

[Buckeye]

OL

I only tell Mrs. Buckeye what the men on the blog say.

You're a lot older than me. You should know better:)

[MissMarple2]

Extraneus,

She has co-opted the same shade of blue Hillary used. Maybe she got a good deal on those "D" signs which looked like hospital street signs or something.

I REALLY dislike that shade of blue.

[Buckeye]

CH

I drove an MG in college, and trust me, I was dirt poor.

Conned the BMW dealer, who took it in on trade, into selling it to me for $100.

[MissMarple2]

Ha! I had forgotten about this from January 3. The President is always on top of things! Graphic at the link.

pic.twitter.com/JzfXMAPwKP

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2019

[Captain Hate]

Buckeye,

I know they were a lot more affordable then but any story of hers just reeks of bullshit and lies.

[sbwaters]

Reading Victor Davis Hanson on ancient prejudices, he presents patterns of history to inoculate you against their recurrence.

#Progs push Dewey-esque Social Studies to push space fillers ABOUT history they grade using their own critical lenses.

We do not want to go back to testing the date of Paul Revere, but we do need to review patterns that wash over the sands of time.

There is no reason to be duped into failure yet again by rhetoric that promises a future but has only delivered failure in the past.

[Extraneus]

They're like the wedding party, Miss Marple. Not just guests.

So now we have the handmaid ladies in red, the pussy-hat ladies in pink, the Commie ladies in white, and the Warren ladies in blue. Shaping up to be a colorful election season!

[sbwaters]

An MG the year Buckeye was in college. $100 was worth a lot more then:

[henry]

Lots of colors?

Just don’t wear or be black in Virginia.

[Account Deleted]

That Meghan McCain chick is a rude, tacky, pig.

Can you imagine trying to shame someone that came to the funeral of your parent because you didn't like them? What a self centered pig.

I went to a service for Chuck Colson at the National Cathedral & nobody invited me. It was about showing respect for Chuck Colson & thanks for his work. My going had nothing to do with whoever spoke at the service.

Meghan McCain is loathsome.

[Buckeye]

I know they were a lot more affordable then but any story of hers just reeks of bullshit and lies.

Roger that. I think in her case it is a congenital defect.

[MissMarple2]

One of the things I wish the GOP would do is show how whenever taxes are raised, the money does NOT go to the poor, but instead goes for hiring more federal workers in DC and pet programs for dem cronies.

Gullible people think they will see larger paychecks or welfare checks, but that isn't what happens. How much money did Feinstein's husband make? Why does Planned Parenthood make so much money from the feds? Who benefits from keeping the border unprotected?

We need ads that will explain this stuff like Schoolhouse Rock.

[Account Deleted]

A good reminder from 2015.
Gianna Jessen was born after a failed saline abortion attempt.

"Thirty-eight years ago, Jessen miraculously survived a saline abortion. This morning, she told her remarkable story to a House Judiciary Committee investigating Planned Parenthood’s practice of harvesting and selling the body parts of aborted babies — even from those that may have been born alive."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Wwgh7kdKM&fbclid=IwAR0q7CfxoNOWM-U7UIo_m94qgDgGjcF4u5XSTSm9XdZDUc2Lrl4zg5VhT80

[Buckeye]

SBW

Mrs. Buckeye likes your photo, but says you need to know that it had orange indoor/outdoor carpet which didn't exist then.

It did a good job of covering up the holes in the floorboards:)

[Jane]

LOL OL, I take full credit!

I just heard from Momto2. Funeral was yesterday. She wanted to thank eveyone for all their lovely messages and said she will be back soon.

[Captain Hate]

I went to a service for Chuck Colson at the National Cathedral & nobody invited me. It was about showing respect for Chuck Colson & thanks for his work. My going had nothing to do with whoever spoke at the service.

Every interview I saw with Colson impressed me with his efforts to rehab prisoners. I was prejudiced against him by the MFM propagandists but the selfless nature of what he did won me over.

[Jane]

Colson was the speaker at my nephew's graduation. I was very anti-Nixon and embroiled in the Watergate scandal, but he was so compelling I had no choice but to get over it.

[MissMarple2]

http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/cis-lesbian-fired-for-misgendering-a-trans-male-rapist-t20496.html

[MissMarple2]

Elizabeth Warren supporters walk out before speech ends. On. Live. Television. pic.twitter.com/iYgEu9vsys

— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) February 9, 2019

Video at link!

[MissMarple2]

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/429268-trump-to-be-interviewed-by-foxs-ingraham-after-el-paso-rally

[Old Lurker]

Buckeye, she has met Jane so I thought I could sneak it by her.

[MissMarple2]

It’s made with five kinds of meat and smothered in cheese fondue pic.twitter.com/7GJY7IO3ef

— Business Insider (@businessinsider) February 9, 2019

Video at link.

[Narciso79]

Didnt Lawrence used to be a mill town, I guess all the jobs went overseas.

[Narciso79]

Potter was a caricature of a certain type of mogul, which I think the CEO of Sears at the time typified

[Narciso79]

Ot, are you getting a certain jury nullification vibe off the el chapo trial?

[Old Lurker]

Speaks for itself:

"A man charged with murdering his pregnant girlfriend has had the charges related to killing her unborn baby dropped — thanks to New York’s new abortion laws. Anthony Hobson, 48, was arrested on Friday for Sunday’s grisly murder of Jennifer Irigoyen, 35, who was five months pregnant. He is accused of brutally stabbing her to death — and deliberately killing her unborn baby. (Photos) Initially, Hobson was charged with murder and second-degree abortion by Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. However, the abortion charge has now been rescinded, thanks to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new Reproductive Health Act."

[Old Lurker]

And this:

"On Thursday, Netflix announced it had acquired the rights to Knock Down the House, a documentary featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that won an award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The streaming company reportedly paid $10 million for the film. "Netflix has acquired worldwide distribution rights to award-winning documentary Knock Down the House, which chronicles the campaigns of four female progressive candidates including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, against powerful incumbents in the 2018 midterm elections," Netflix announced in a statement Thursday."

My question. Now that Obama is on the board of Netflix, what are the odds that some of this $10M is meant to flow through the producers to AOC and the other three commies?

[Captain Hate]

I met up with KK earlier this week. Among other things he says Netflix is in the process of crashing and burning.

[Jim,SunnyvaleCA,USA]

OL "what are the odds that some of this $10M is meant to flow through"

About infinity to zero?

[Jane]

Narc,

Lawrence was a mill town before I was born. It's been a wreck for at least 70 years.

[Jane]

When Obama joined Netflix, I quit.

[Rocco]

I've been here a few times, back in the day, when their toilets were 5 gallon buckets.

http://www.city-data.com/picfilesv/picv6938.php

[Captain Hate]

According to the Horde the French protests were heating up today in cities other than Paris.

[jimmyk]

I guess she's going with blue, huh? I hope Amy wasn't planning on blue tomorrow.

Warren must have used the same designer as Hillary. Remember this?

[peter]

sbw@12:58 Hah!

[peter]

thank you narciso

[peter]

I agree with Janet a@ 12:58 as well. 12:58 must be a bio-rhythmic convergence, or something.

[Extraneus]

Can you imagine trying to shame someone that came to the funeral of your parent because you didn't like them?

"I hope I made them feel uncomfortable."

Like father, like daughter.

[Jack is Back!]

Lurkng while watching the Scotland v. Ireland 6 Nations game on delay.

CH,

I listen to Fox Business every morning, and Netflix is everyone's favorite tech stock. I have not heard one negative analysis about it. interesting that KK feels the other way.

[henry]

JiB, re Fox Business. Every analyst talks their book. If they all push Netflix, they are all trying to sell their stake. (caveat emptor on those shows).

[Captain Hate]

Day 50 since the last RBG sighting. MFM still strangely incurious.

[sbwaters]

I have not heard one negative analysis about it.

Then you missed the one yesterday about how disney is positioned

[Extraneus]

DEMOCRATS OUST FAIRFAX FROM LEADERSHIP POST AMID SCANDAL

Embattled Virginia Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax has been removed from a prestigious party leadership position amid calls from his own party to resign over sexual assault accusations.

Fairfax was removed as chairman of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association (DLGA) Friday night after a second allegation of sexual assault against Fairfax emerged. Fairfax helped form the organization last year and became its first ever chairman.

They really don't believe in due process. I don't care what happens to this guy, but that's a bit chilling.