ENB Pub Note: Doug Sheridan on LinkedIn again hits it out of the park. The IRA has done more harm to the US economy than most people realize, and it was a wealth realignment tool that was taken advantage of by the rich to get really rich. The secondary effect, we are now seeing in the higher electricity prices and the pressure on the grid by the wind and solar installations. The downside to the repeal is that it is not yet permanent, and the Trump administration has its work cut out for it to make the cuts permanent.
Melanie Brusseler writes in the FT, the Trump admin has functionally repealed the IRA, collapsing the political economic project of building a new pro-green growth agenda with industrial policy.
The lesson? The Green New Deal movement was right to advocate for a far more ambitious political economy of comprehensive decarbonization and the guarantee of fundamental economic rights through universal healthcare, housing, education and dignity for workers.
Progressive policymakers won’t have another chance at a grand program of decarbonization until 2029. And they’ll only have that chance if they can lay the groundwork now by setting an ambitious agenda and defining the political economic project of the post-Trump era.
The US must deliver even more aggressive decarbonization. This means a new era of green economic planning—direct public investment, co-ordination and provisioning in key sectors, including energy. This is necessary not only for the energy transition, but to ensure universal high quality, affordable provision of life’s essentials and macroeconomic stability through economy-wide restructuring.
The green boom wasn’t adequate to deliver decarbonization. IRA subsidies tried to bribe generalized private green investment. It was stymied by supply-chain snarls, interest-rate increases and under-investment in the privately-controlled electricity transmission system.
Instead of reviving IRA clean energy tax credits, the US should redesign its power sector by building publicly owned energy infrastructure. Dramatic expansion should be the centerpiece. Planning is also the prism through which to pursue building progressive macroeconomic policy and decarbonization governance frameworks.
The US must build a stronger national macroeconomic planning apparatus with a revival of the Office of Price Administration to a National Investment Authority and a National Economic Planning Board to co-ordinate investment and govern prices.
The Green New Deal movement argued change wouldn’t come from a single piece of legislation, but a decade of political contestation.
The era of Bidenomics may be over but the fight must continue. With a president hostile to decarbonization in the White House, now’s the time to shape a future green economic agenda to protect the environment and guarantee economic security for workers.
Our Take 1: There you have it—Greens aren’t taking no for an answer. Quite the opposite. The plan post-Trump is to implement an even more radical effort to fix the climate—and turn society on its head in the process. It’s what they’ve wanted all along… European-style gov’t ownership and control over large swaths of the US economy. In their minds, free markets are the problem—and must be stamped out.
Our Take 2: Americans better start tuning in to what Greens want to do with their country. If not, the US will find itself heading down the same path of economic decay and social malaise now gripping Europe.
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