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Some pretty huge news on today’s BradCast, for the American economy and for the continuing prospects for human civilization. So, yeah, pretty huge news. [Audio link to show is posted below summary.]
Among the stories covered on today’s program…
- General Motors announced on Thursday that it will end the production of all gasoline and diesel powered cars and SUVs by 2035. The announcement signals a potential sea change (both figuratively and literally) in American automobile production — and not a moment too soon;
- That news comes on the heels of President Biden’s ambitious climate action agenda announced on Wednesday, which includes plans to replace the entire federal fleet of about half a million cars with electric vehicles, fueling about a million new jobs in the industry, and a rapid move away from dangerous, dirty, expensive fossil fuels towards cheaper, cleaner renewable energy. He also called for a carbon emissions-free national power grid by 2035 and full carbon neutrality by 2050. Naturally, fossil fuel-captured Republican officials and Fox “News” dupes are freaking out about the bad news for their industry funders (even if it’s great news for their constituents!);
- The potential boost to jobs and the economy comes not a moment too soon, as federal government numbers released on Thursday reveal that 2020 saw the biggest collapse of the American economy since World War II. The numbers also signal the end of the longest economic expansion in U.S. history (11 years! Thanks, Obama!) and that the average annual GDP growth under President Obama far outpaced that of supposed business genius Donald Trump. Just like the last Republican President before him, Trump inherited a booming economy from a Democratic President and subsequently tanked it for the next Democratic President to have to clean up after him;
- That next Democrat, President Biden, continued his Executive Order flurry on Thursday by rolling back Trump’s efforts to prevent Americans from receiving healthcare coverage. Biden re-opened the Healthcare.gov exchange to allow millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic to obtain affordable health insurance, which Trump refused to do. (Did I mention we are still in the middle of the worst healthcare crisis in 100 years? Made even worse by the failures of the former President?);
- Despite all of that — a new Democratic President working to create millions of new, good paying jobs and provide healthcare and vaccines to all — there are still a whole bunch of brain-poisoned MAGA wingnuts so misinformed that they are plotting to kill Democratic officials and overthrow the American government. One such brain-poisoned MAGA wingnut, freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), was recently discovered to have supported calls for Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton to be killed, and to have stalked and harassed a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre just weeks after the 2018 shooting in Parkland, Florida. She described him as a coward. Now, a Democratic Congressmember is calling for Greene to be expelled from the U.S. House;
- Finally, Desi Doyen heroically — in just six minutes! — summarizes Biden’s massive, landmark plan for climate action, as unveiled at the White House on Wednesday, in our latest Green News Report…
CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!…
[audio:http://BradBlog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman-GMGoesElectric-TrumpEconomy-BidenHealthcare-MAGATerror_012821.mp3]
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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A bit OT, but I have to say it out loud — I have had it with Jimmy Dore.
Jimmy is giving comfort and credibility to the Proud Boys, Boogaloos and white-supremacist Maga-types who flimsily claim to be supportive of BLM, LGBTQ people, etc etc.
They are obviously lying thru their teeth, but Jimmy still fell for it.
Also, Jimmy has virtually written-off AOC and other sincere progressives who are navigating difficult waters right now.
I didn’t leave Jimmy; HE left ME.
Here’s my new “Jimmy” meme, using a popular photo used in many memes. I think its appropos:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sCKG31F-2DM/YBO9LCfcQVI/AAAAAAAADpg/YT6dkfRys6YGiQNMwWsC2FjY9PNFrvRdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/jimmy%2Bdore%2Bgetting%2Bfooled%2Bby%2Bproud%2Bboys%252C%2Bboogaloos%2Band%2Bother%2Bmaga%2Bliars.jpg
Only ~15% of the American electrical grid comes from renewable resources. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it takes much more energy to burn fossil fuels, make steam, turn turbines and create electricity, run it through the grid to a charging station and run your car with it, than running your car on gasoline. And until we have Nuclear fusion plants… This commitment to electrical cars will be catastrophic unless the energy grid is converted to renewable energy.
Hopefully there will be an announcement on doing that in the next 20 years.
Affordable Hair Act @#2 — That’s a common misconception about electric vehicles, so thanks for the opportunity to help you update your understanding. Numerous studies have now shown that in ALL cases, EVs are cleaner and greener than internal combustion engine cars, even when charged with electricity generated by fossil fueled power plants. See this summary of a comprehensive new MIT study that came out just a few weeks ago:
Electric Cars Are Better for the Planet – and Often Your Budget, Too
MIT found electric cars were easily more climate friendly than gas-burning ones, in all cases, and were often cheaper, too.
Since CO2 is cumulative and persists for hundreds of years in the atmosphere, it is imperative that humanity phase out the use of fossil fuels as soon as possible. Transportation is the largest source of emissions in the U.S. So yes, the rapid shift to EVs will help mitigate the actual catastrophic impacts of man-made climate change as we convert our national grid to clean energy.
Regarding nuclear power, only already paid-for existing nuclear plants can be considered relatively ‘cheap’ as zero-emissions energy sources. Research is still in the experimental stages for new methods of generating nuclear power, as you note, but President Biden is increasing funding for research into advanced nuclear. Current construction of old-school nuclear plants remains extremely expensive (see GA’s troubled Vogtle nuclear project) and generates a large carbon footprint due to the enormous amount of emissions-intensive concrete required. And that’s not even accounting for the as-yet unsolved problem of radioactive nuclear waste, which also requires producing even more CO2 emissions-intensive concrete to store it in perpetuity.
You may find this twitter thread from climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of The Breakthrough Institute interesting, explaining why renewables and nuclear energy will likely both play key roles in decarbonization.