The obsession of Dotard Trump with getting rid of "green" (or rather, clean) energy sources is an effort doomed to fail. At least that is the take of Prof. Eric Beinhocker of the University of Oxford, writing in the WSJ ('The Clean Energy Revolution is Unstoppable', p. C4, Mar. 8-9). Dotard's ceaseless and mindless yapping may have some believing otherwise, but Prof. Beinhocker's arguments look iron clad to me.
For example, he notes that the free market alone has never been responsible for major technological transitions, from railroads to automobiles to the internet. Not to mention the development of nuclear power plants. In each case major government input was required for the technologies to reach scale.
He then cites as a most recent example:
"In 2021-22 Congress passed the bipartisan CHIPS Act and Infrastructure Act, plus the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) all of which provided funding to accelerate the development of America's clean energy industry."
Of course, Dotard Donnie - more invested in spraying paper with his black, skunk- paw signature on bogus executive actions- has pledged to end such support. This Traitor Turd would rather see the planet burn up acre by acre and to that end has already halted $50 b in already approved clean energy disbursements. Also, the orange stain has put $280 billion in loan requests under review. But as Beinhocker notes it may be too late, writing:
"The legality of halting a congressionally mandated program will be challenged in court, but in any case the IRA 'horse' is already well out of the barn. About $61 billion of direct IRA funding has already been spent. And IRA tax credits have already attracted $215 billion in new clean energy investment - and could be worth $350 billion over the next three years."
Not too shabby, this positive energy home run hit by Biden, even while the GOOPs tried to tear it down by yapping about a "source of inflation."
The Oxford Prof goes on to point out any Dotard attempt to end the tax credits would not be easy- say like scribbling another signature on a lawless executive order. He writes:
"Ending the tax credits would be politically difficult since the top 10 states for clean energy jobs include: Texas, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania - all critical states for Republicans. Trump may well find himself fighting Republican governors and members of Congress to make those cuts."
Beinhocker suspects it more likely Dotard will undertake less arduous actions, like ending consumer subsidies for electric vehicles (which may well rub Musk the wrong way) and refusing to issue permits for offshore wind projects. But as the Prof notes: "The impact of these changes would be mainly to harm U.S. competitiveness."
Finally, he notes:
"Meanwhile, Trump's promises of a fossil fuel renaissance ring hollow. This is given U.S. oil an gas production is already at record levels - and with softening global prices, producers and investors are increasingly cautious about committing more capital to expand U.S. production."
Something I already pointed to in an earlier post, e.g.
Beinhocker then delivers the coup-de grace for his majesty, King Bonespurs:
"The energy transition is a one way ticket. As the asset base shifts to clean energy, given falling costs (see graph), large segments of fossil fuel demand will permanently disappear. Very few consumers who buy an electric vehicle will go back to fossil fuel cars. Once utilities build cheap renewables and storage they won't go back to expensive coal plants."
And finally:
"For U.S. policymakers, supporting clean energy isn't about climate change. It is about maintaining American economic leadership."
Does Donnie Dotard really want to sacrifice that economic leadership? Well, from his knuckle-dead tariff moves against our own trading partners, it looks more and more like he does. I mean, most of the sane segment of the nation is already preparing for a Trump-cession - the biggest recession of all time perhaps.
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by Robert Becker | March 17, 2025 - 10:32am | permalink» article continues...
“Nations across Asia will come to the same conclusion the Europeans have already reached: America is a Judas.”
I reckon so far MAGA Trump is 0 for 10 on the “average Joe ratio” of rewards gained vs. devastation exacted. The shortest presidential “honeymoon” since Lincoln faced the Ft. Sumter attack is morphing into the horror show from hell, slashing and burning, oblivious to human suffering and legal consequences. In sum, high pain, no gain, no viable plan, no coherent blueprint, no miracle finish.
What blunderer cuts “fraud and waste” with a bunker-busting bomb blindly, maliciously dropped from a great height? The real and fabricated “Trump Slump” that batters America not only incites enormous domestic defiance but boosts foreign nations across the globe, friend and foe alike– all classic, unintended consequences of stupidity.
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