(Friday PO) Biden frames his clean energy plan as a jobs plan, obscuring his record on climate

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

As part of President Biden's recent "Bidenomics" campaign push, aides from across the administration and close allies have been dispatched to events across the U.S. to try to convince people that the nation's strong economy is the result of the president's programs and policies.

The message sweeps in Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, a law that includes $369 billion in climate investments as a major step in the fight against climate change. But lately, the emphasis has been on the number of jobs created by the law — overshadowing what the projects collectively mean for the push to limit the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

Take, for instance, a recent stop of the Bidenomics tour, where the president's top climate aide, Ali Zaidi, joined Maryland's Democratic governor, Wes Moore, at a row house near Carver Vocational-Technical High School. Students are renovating the house while learning green building techniques.

Zaidi told NPR that the green jobs programs are making a material difference in the lives of Americans.

"We see it here in Baltimore, where folks are getting enlisted to help retrofit our buildings — and they now have wind in their sails thanks to the president's climate agenda," Zaidi said.

Biden has long linked climate change and job creation in his political rhetoric, making it a staple of his speeches during his 2020 campaign.

When he took office, Biden identified addressing climate change as one of his top four priorities, and his administration has focused on climate and environmental policies.

When Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law a year ago, he talked at length about how its clean energy investments would help the climate. Now, as his reelection campaign gears up, the bill's economic upsides have taken center stage in his broader 'Bidenomics' message.

"This bill includes the biggest investment ever, not only in America but anywhere in the world, when dealing with climate change," Biden told a crowd of union workers in Philadelphia during the first big rally of his campaign. "And the investment isn't only going to help us save the planet. It's going to create jobs — lots of jobs, tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs."

Politically, a focus on the economy makes sense: Voters consistently rank it as the issue that is most important to them and have expressed concern about Biden's handling of it.

Linking climate to jobs helps the president expand support for policies to tackle the climate crisis. "This dual message was central to building the unprecedented coalition of labor groups, industry, and environmental justice leaders that helped us secure the biggest climate protection bill in history," said Abdullah Hasan, a White House spokesperson.

Biden's reelection effort is supported by four prominent environmental organizations — as well as the major labor group AFL-CIO.

But the economic emphasis has left some voters in the dark about the considerable climate wins that the administration secured with the legislation. The Inflation Reduction Act is projected to spur a 40% reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from a 2005 baseline by 2030.
Approval of Biden's performance on climate has waned

Since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed, approval for Biden's handling of climate change and the environment has declined. That's according to polling by Data for Progress, which does work for Democratic candidates and causes.

The drop was most dramatic among voters under age 30.

Koray Gates, 21, is a student in Colorado Springs, Colo., who says climate change is one of his top issues. He said he is frustrated by some of the decisions made during Biden's time in office.
Biden Promised To End New Drilling On Federal Land, But Approvals Are Up
Energy
Biden Promised To End New Drilling On Federal Land, But Approvals Are Up
Can TikTokkers sway Biden on oil drilling? The #StopWillow campaign, explained
National
Can TikTokkers sway Biden on oil drilling? The #StopWillow campaign, explained

"[Biden] does things like, you know, allowing drilling in the Arctic again. And so," Gates said, "it kind of undermines my faith a little bit."

In March, Biden approved a large drilling project, known as Willow, on federal land in Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, provoking intense backlash from environmental groups and young, climate-motivated voters.

"President Biden is by far the best climate president we've had, but he's also broken some key climate promises," said Ed Maibach, who studies climate communication at George Mason University. "Those broken promises have been a profound disappointment to some of his voters, especially young voters."

Meanwhile, most Democratic voters have still not heard much about Biden's signature climate law, according to Maibach's research.

"I don't think the president has spent enough time or effort convincing Americans what a big deal the [Inflation Reduction Act] is," Maibach said. "To quote Cool Hand Luke, 'What we've got here is a failure to communicate.'"

When Zaidi, Biden's climate adviser, was asked whether he was concerned about young voters' frustration or the lack of awareness about the Inflation Reduction Act, he said he thought the situation would improve with time.

"I think that young people — thanks to the administration's work, thanks to the president's leadership — are going to be able to get onto a school bus that doesn't pollute. They are going to see the Postal Service fleet — that touches every home and every street in every part of the county — go fully electric," Zaidi told NPR.

"The president could not feel more urgently the need to move forward, and he has done just that," Zaidi said.

Meanwhile, young voters concerned about climate change seem unlikely to shift their support away from Biden and his party, given that Republicans have said they want to scale back Biden's climate initiatives and support increased domestic fossil fuel production.

Gates, the 21-year-old student, said that despite his frustrations with Biden, he can't imagine voting for a Republican challenger in the 2024 election — and doesn't think he or his friends would opt to sit the election out.

"It's really important to vote, even if the person who you're voting for is not perfect," Gates said, "even if not everything is as you would want it."

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Is anyone buying it?

[Slip Shod]

Anyone buying it? - Yes .
Illegal aliens (you know he's proposing Obamacare for them), the weak-minded (who thinks money grows on trees and we can spend our way out of inflation just print some more), die hard leftist, globalist, Ukraine .. the usual

[Tarmaque]

Is anyone buying it?

Buying it? Well, Biden's economic chops are considerably better than Von Golfcarts were, and he has considerably better advisors. As for his policies doing anything to combat climate change... Nope. I've actually been following the facts on this particular issue, and the consensus by those who don't have a dog in this fight is we're hosed. Even if the entire world stopped using fossil fuels today, and extreme mitigation of atmospheric CO2 were implemented, our current level of increasing global temperatures simply cannot be stopped.

Will it destroy the world? No. Will it make the world uninhabitable? No. However many places that are habitable today will become difficult or impossible to live in after 100 years or so. There will also be considerable sea level rise around the world. How much is open to debate, but I suspect that Florida will be all but gone, and considerable portions of Texas and California. However these are all also places where climate will warm enough to make living there difficult. At least for part of the year.

The Pacific Northwest will be largely untouched, except for parts of Puget Sound. The overall climate will change, but not drastically. Hotter summers but warmer wetter winters will help mitigate that. The Northeast and East coast in general will lose some very popular beaches and coastal areas. New York City and possibly Long Island as a whole may be porked. Hard to say.

The good news is large parts of Canada and the upper Midwest US will become more agriculturally attractive. Imagine growing commercial strawberries outdoors in Calgary or Winnipeg. Tomatoes in North Dakota.

At this point I don't see anything that can stop it. Everybody has ideas and grand plans and electric cars and such, and those are good things. I just think it's way too late and we simply have passed the time when those mitigations would have made a difference. Eventually I see the end of coal fired powerplants, but not in the next couple years. Maybe 50 years down the road. Even then I suspect natural gas powered power plants will still be in widespread use.

Yes, Humanity will survive. But it won't be pleasant and the rich/poor dichotomy will be even worse.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Buying it?

I was refering to him trying to sell the "Inflation reduction act" as an economic plan, when it was really a more sensible version of the build back better plan, having more to do with a move to green energy and infastructure improvements then economics.

Well, Biden's economic chops are considerably better than Von Golfcarts were

I'm not so sure I agree with that. The economy was better under Trump by almost every measurable characteristic until the pandemic. And even then, the economy was better in terms of income to cost of living rations. At the same time, Trump didn't take any real leadership position on the economy, nor do I think he understood it. The president gets blamed and credited with more than they deserve anyway.

Even if the entire world stopped using fossil fuels today, and extreme mitigation of atmospheric CO2 were implemented, our current level of increasing global temperatures simply cannot be stopped.

I've seen different models on this with different results. In this particular field it can be hard to tell who can be believed and who is a political hack.

There will also be considerable sea level rise around the world. How much is open to debate

I'm hoping to have ocean front property when it is all said and done.

At this point I don't see anything that can stop it. Everybody has ideas and grand plans and electric cars and such, and those are good things.

The approach to stopping it has been a joke. Things like carbon credits which just make people feel better about their extravagant use of fossil fuels but do nothing to slow down emissions. Or the way Ca has fought so hard to close down coal plants in their borders while buying massive amounts of coal produced energy from out of state. It's about appearing to do something.

[Tarmaque]

The economy was better under Trump by almost every measurable characteristic

Uh... No it wasn't. It was fairly stable when he inherited it from the Obama administration, then almost immediately trended downward. When the pandemic hit it crashed (shocker) and the Trump administration blamed it on the Obama administration. (And the "China virus" as Florida man called it.) His reaction to the pandemic exacerbated the economic woes of his early administration (Note that the first year or so of any administration is pretty much dependent on the economic policy of the previous administration.) Trump's tax cuts for the rich were a disaster of course, as such tax cuts always are. Combine that fiasco with the pandemic and you have an economy that went SPLAT!

Everybody made fun of Biden when in his first year the economy didn't miraculously recover. That never happens. But in the second year it started to improve drastically and today the inflation that started under Von Golfcart has nearly reached levels before his clusterfuck of an administration.

I've seen different models on this with different results. In this particular field it can be hard to tell who can be believed and who is a political hack.

True dat, but you have to look for numbers without an agenda. The people I've been watching have been pretty accurate so far. There's a big difference between the two extremes of Doom and Gloom and Everything is Fine! Well everything is not fine, and getting a world of humans to do anything collectively is harder than herding cats. MUCH harder. Based on what I expect humanity to do, I'd be buying land in Alaska and building a distillery, if I thought I'd live long enough to see the endgame.

I'm hoping to have ocean front property when it is all said and done.

Yes, I'm sure rich people will be brawling in the streets to buy your property under such a situation.

The approach to stopping it has been a joke. Things like carbon credits which just make people feel better about their extravagant use of fossil fuels but do nothing to slow down emissions. Or the way Ca has fought so hard to close down coal plants in their borders while buying massive amounts of coal produced energy from out of state. It's about appearing to do something.

Agreed.

Nothing California or any other single state can do will change everything because the problem is on a far larger scale. California and a few other states (like Washington State) believe they are leading the way. However it doesn't make any difference if you are a leader if nobody is following. People react in fear to Nuclear power because they don't believe the evidence. They complain about wind and solar because Faux News told them it was only profitable due to government subsidies, while ignoring how wind farms are grown like weeds everywhere there's predictable wind. There's a certain segment of society who only believes what they are told, and only then when it conforms to their preconceived notions of what reality is based on their culture.

The reality is the vast majority of people in this world aren't going to change one thing in their comfortable lives to effect change until the reality of the situation slaps them in the face with a dead fish. And then it will be too late.

I know I'm a pessimist, but I'm also a realist. I've seen, with my own eyes, the changes in the climate in the Pacific Northwest in the last 50 years. In another 50 it won't be fit to live in. It nearly isn't now.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Uh... No it wasn't. It was fairly stable when he inherited it from the Obama administration, then almost immediately trended downward.

https://www.investopedia.com/comparing- ... en-4843240
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/U ... yment-rate

Literally the only figure that shows better today then it did per-pandemic is total GDP. note that nearly every from of taxation as a percentage of GDP has gone up and the value of the dollar has gone down. Those are the real world economic factors. In the second chart you can see that unemployment was at its lowest in 2019. Stock market growth under Biden has also been much slower and just as turbulent as it was under Trump. The economy has been terrible under the Biden administration. The numbers prove it.

. But in the second year it started to improve drastically and today the inflation that started under Von Golfcart has nearly reached levels before his clusterfuck of an administration.

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/U ... n-rate-cpi

This inflation rate did not start under Trump. Trump didn't have a inflation in a singe year that was more then 2.45%. We didn't brake 3% until 2021 and it shot up in 2022. While this year has been better then 2022 we almost certainly going to be over 4% inflation for 2023 and it's not out of possibility that we will be over 5%. This only looks acceptable if you compare it to 2022.

You may not like Trump's economics but the numbers are clear. I recognize we aren't comparing apples to apple, as Biden took over an economy that was recovering from shutdown, but what I said remains true, The economy was better under Trump be almost every measurable stat, the one exception being gross GDP.

Yes, I'm sure rich people will be brawling in the streets to buy your property under such a situation.

What do you think the real reason for the Musk Zuckleberg cage match is?

Nothing California or any other single state can do will change everything because the problem is on a far larger scale.

That is also true. But my point is the solution to those "leading the way" haven't been productive and have all been about appearances. Simply buying your dirty energy across some imaginary line does nothing to help the situation.