A Civic Take: Inslee’s Fossil Fuel Plan Attacks Trickle Down Economics Head-On.
Yesterday, Jay Inslee announced his plan to cut off America’s dependence on fossil fuels cold turkey. The substance of the plan is great, but the real kicker?He attacks trickle-down economics head-on, asserting this plan won’t just help prevent climate change, it’ll create eight million jobs along the way.
Here are the plan’s main components.
- End $24 billion in annual government subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and close federal tax carve-outs for big polluters.
- End fossil fuel production on public land. Period.
- Institute a carbon fee and use the money to “provide dedicated support for frontline and low-income communities in addressing the impacts of climate disasters.”
- Ban new fossil fuel infrastructure projects (looking at you, Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines.)
- Require companies to show their shareholders and investors the risk posed by climate change to their business.
So here’s the thing: this plan is pretty great. It’s bold, aspirational, and it is guaranteed to make a lot of fossil fuel magnates consider an early retirement. That’s more than enough of a reason to support it. But there’s an even better reason to like the plan—one that most of the media coverage missed.
Take this coverage by HuffPo, for example. The piece pits “Industry” vs Jay Inslee in a conventional political dichotomy. It presents environmental policy as a false choice — save the world from cataclysmic destruction but destroy the economy as a result. This is an intentional tactic by trickle-downers to prevent an unstoppable coalition; an alliance between the interests of low-wage earners, the middle-class, and the environmental movement.
Inslee attacks trickle down economics head-on with this proposal. Here’s what I mean by that: you’ve probably heard us at Civic Ventures say that trickle down economics means tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, deregulation for the powerful, and wage suppression for everyone else. This plan doesn’t just say we’ll end fossil fuel subsidies to prevent climate change. It asserts that regulating the powerful and freeing up $24 billion annually will allow us to invest in working families and thereby grow the economy creating prosperity for everyone. Now that’s what I’m talking about.
For whatever reason, most Democratic candidates have a hard time explaining why their policies are actually good for the American people and the American economy. Inslee isn’t afraid to point out that his policies are great for growth. Good work, Jay.
