On Monday, Presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke released his aggressive climate change plan. Beto, who once called the Green New Deal the best climate change proposal he had seen, apparently had a change of heart. Beto states that climate change is the greatest challenge we face in the tweet announcing the climate proposal.
The O’Rourke plan calls for increased taxes on corporations and “wealthy,” increased government regulations on business and spending over $5 trillion on “investments.” Green New Deal supporters quickly attacked the O’Rourke plan as not being aggressive enough. In an article at the Washington Post, the complaint was not on the aggressive nature, but rather the centerpiece of the tax breaks and federal grants. No doubt these were used as a centerpiece to attempt to pull in the Democrat base and independent voters, while still appealing to the excited group of extreme left liberal voters.
Environmental responsibility is important, but we simply cannot afford the extreme costs of increasing government regulations on private industry. As industry experts continue to analyze the proposal, it will be interesting to continue to identify the economic effects of this proposal. Initial estimates of the Green New Deal placed program costs at approximately $60,000 per household at the lowest. The estimates for just the low-carbon energy grid were in the same range of $5 trillion, or $39,000 per household. Are you interested in paying an extra $3,900 per year to help fund this climate plan?
