An article at The Atlantic by Christopher Beam is titled, Is America Ready for ‘Degrowth Communism’? – ‘Say goodbye, perhaps, to hamburgers, SUVs, & your annual cross-country flight home for the holidays.’
The Atlantic article subtitle is: Kohei Saito’s theory of how to solve climate change is economically dubious and politically impossible. Why is it so popular?
At least they’re coming out of the woodwork and exposing themselves for what they are. Mark Levin warned that these neo-communists are degrowthers.
Secretary of State Blinken exposed the insurmountable flaw in the Biden regrowth climate plan — it won’t do anything for the climate – non-Western nations and some in Europe will not implement the ridiculous extremist plan. The West picked out the most extreme degrowth plan with a 1.5 degree Celsius goal.
The US going to zero carbon emissions in nine-ten years will destroy the US’s energy sector and economy and it will make no difference in the earth’s temperature. The Biden Regime would have us return to a primitive way of life for no reason whatsoever since China, Russia, India will continue to build coal plants and pursue material and financial growth.
The opening Prophet Saito salvo by Mr. Beam
The degrowth movement has swelled in recent years, particularly in Europe and in academic circles. The theory has dramatic implications. Instead of finding carbon-neutral ways to power our luxurious modern lifestyles, degrowth would require us to surrender some material comforts. One leading proponent suggests imposing a hard cap on total national energy use, which would ratchet down every year. Energy-intensive activities might be banned outright or taxed to near oblivion. (Say goodbye, perhaps, to hamburgers, SUVs, and your annual cross-country flight home for the holidays.) You’d probably be prohibited from setting the thermostat too cold in summer or too warm in winter. To keep frivolous spending down, the government might decide which products are “wasteful” and ban advertising for them. Slower growth would require less labor, so the government would shorten the workweek and guarantee a job for every person.
Saito did not invent degrowth, but he has put his own spin on it by adding the C word.
As for what kind of “communism” we’re talking about, Saito tends to emphasize workers’ cooperatives and generous social welfare policies rather than top-down Leninist state control of the economy. He says he wants democratic change rather than revolution—though he’s fuzzy on how exactly you get people to vote for shrinkage.
His latest book sold half a million copies, and the far-left, who are protesting at colleges, thinks his plan is terrific. He’s on panels at places like Georgetown U and travels the Northwest spreading his degrowth communism. The protesters at Columbia U recognized him and one took a selfie with him.
He’s a dangerous man.
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