03-19-2022, 02:36 PM
(03-13-2022, 09:53 AM)beechnut79 Wrote:(03-13-2022, 02:58 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:What do the last two Bs in the quintuple B bill stand for? I always though it was simply Build Back Better.(03-12-2022, 03:00 PM)JasonBlack Wrote:(03-12-2022, 05:51 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:(03-11-2022, 09:41 PM)JasonBlack Wrote: "They need to be made available NOW"
I would be agreeable to this if it actually became the discourse of conversation (among the public at least. You've probably talked about it at length), but at the moment, everyone is focused on what not to do rather than what to do. We're too focused on "ban this", "stop doing that", "we need to cancel that", with no "do this instead".
Replacing fossil fuels with renewables in response to this Ukraine crisis and its sanctions is being talked about among the public, not just with me. Environmentalists like Bill McKibben are talking about it, and other organizations that send me email are talking about it. The Europeans are talking about it, and President Biden talked about it in his recent speech to the nation. I'm sure it needs to be talked about more. But whether it is or not, by whoever, it IS the need.
It's good that people are talking about it, but that doesn't mean we have solutions readily available. I see where people are coming from about the whole modern craze over "instant gratification", but at the same time, when you're talking about whether or not someone is going to be able to afford to commute to work, you really do need an "instant" solution if you don't want to have to double the size of the welfare state.
We certainly have solutions readily available to the climate change/fossil fuel/sanctions-gas prices crisis. To some extent, they are most easily available now to those who can afford it. But CA had a climate refund for a while that lowered energy costs, and if we can get back to the idea that government help to the poor is a good thing, we could certainly bring poorer people along for this "ride." These solutions, though they are readily available, take a few years to build. Much had been done already under Obama, and will be under Biden if Manchin can get off the dime and vote for the BBBBB. Republicans oppose progress on most things, including this crisis.
Innovation has been bringing costs down considerably, and will continue to do so. Those who can afford to buy new can buy a new house in CA on which solar panels are required to be built, as well as an electric car. Many people like me live in cities where their energy payment can go exclusively to renewable sources. Blue states have been willing to embrace the solutions, and in some red states solutions are being applied too despite Republican discouragement, because solar and wind power is good business.
Biden's Build Back Better Bill?