Post 42 - April 22, 2020
Day 42…
Today is Earth Day.
It is the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day that we celebrated on April 22, 1970.
Earth Day celebrates support for environmental protection on an international level.
It came to be after a 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara when an oil platform blew out. From that horrific beginning, support has grown to where there are now events celebrated in support of the health of our beautiful fragile planet in 193 countries world-wide.
The Paris Agreement was signed on Earth Day in 2016 by 120 countries.
Its’ support has since expanded to include 189 countries.
(to give you a barometer of what this means, as of the writing, there are 195 countries on our planet.)
Under the Paris Agreement, each country will plan and report on what it’s doing to mitigate global warming. No country is forced to set dates or commit to any specific target, but the agreement encourages each country not to get worse.
The aim of the Paris Agreement is to try to limit global warming to C1.5 degrees above historic pre-Industrial levels.
Last year, the President announced that he planned to withdraw from this agreement.
Under the terms of the 2016 agreement, however, the earliest that that would be possible is November of 2020.
Remember that.
But I digress.
George Chidi, a political columnist and public policy advocate from Georgia wrote an OpEd piece yesterday that sheds some interesting light on why Governor Kemp is reopening non-essential businesses in Georgia.
To put his piece in the right context, for my pals oversees, there is a fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats as to what the reach of our government should be.
Democrats tends towards so-called Big Government.
This means that there tend to be many laws regulating corporations and other aspects of our financial lives.
Laws that protect the environment against pollution. Laws that protect workers from exploitation.
Under Big Government, there are many social programs in place designed to assist people - in times of prosperity as well as in times of crisis.
All of these programs require large agencies that monitor and facilitate.
These agencies require many people to staff them.
Republicans tend towards the opposite way of thinking.
This means that there is a belief that corporations should monitor themselves.
The thought is that it is to the corporation’s financial benefit to run their businesses properly - monitor pollution and the welfare of their workers so it behooves them to do it anyway.
The trickle-down theory of economics theorizes that as those at the top succeed, benefits trickle down to the rest.
Social programs are unnecessary - people can take care of themselves.
Government should be small.
All of those agencies are a drain on the economy.
Too many laws stifle economic growth.
It is in the interest of large corporations to take care of their workers. They don’t need government regulations to do that.
Under Obama, many programs, such as Obama-Care, were created and agreements like the Paris Accord were entered into. Countless environmental protection regulations we either created or strengthened.
On the other hand, under, Trump, those programs have been dissolved, agreements withdrawn from and the Big Government agencies that were fully staffed under Obama were left vacant and unstaffed. Regulations that were in place monitoring and controlling corporate actions have been lifted and nullified. Environmental regulations lifted.
That’s basically, and forgive me for grossly over-simplifying, what I think our current US vs THEM basically boils down to.
Two separate points of view and two opposing opinions on what the role of Government should be.
In the past, the two sides have been able to reach compromises.
In recent years - and I mean over the past 20 years or so - compromise has become more and more difficult to achieve as each side has dug in their heels.
OK, so - back to Georgia.
Republican Georgia.
Fairly recently, Georgia imposed a constitutional limit on income tax at 6%. That can’t be changed without now changing the constitution.
This ensures that taxes cannot be raised by the state government.
The citizens of Georgia will never need to give more than 6% of their incomes to the State.
Republicans were all happy with this.
OK, great. So now we have a crisis.
The unemployment reserve fund in Georgia currently has a reserve of $2.6 billion.
Last week, they paid out $42 million in unemployment claims.
At the rate things are going, and there is nothing to indicate that it won’t continue this way, this reserve will run out of funds in about 28 weeks.
If unemployment continues to rise, maybe sooner.
Georgia CANNOT, under its’ Constitution, raise taxes.
There is no way to shore up this fund.
So, facing this looming shortfall, Governor Kemp decided to re-open some businesses so that the workers will no longer able to put in unemployment claims.
Is it safe to go back to work?
No.
It’s not remotely safe and the Governor knows that.
But, now, if workers decide not to go to work to protect themselves from COVID-19 it is THEIR choice.
Their businesses have not been closed by the State.
They technically still have jobs.
They are, therefore, not eligible to apply for unemployment if they stay home.
Not for nothing, but the businesses that Governor Kemp has chosen to reopen all employ people on the lower end of the earning spectrum. The higher end, Banks, Software firms etc. Still closed.
The people placed in harm’s way by these decisions are far more likely to be of color or poor.
Their plight is far more likely to be ignored.
In the words of Mr. Chidi, “The purpose of this isn’t to open up these businesses. It’s to get the workers there off the dole. Work, and die. Or don’t work … but you’re on your own. Because we can’t raise taxes to cover the time you spent trying to save your life and the lives of the people around you.”
Thank you to Heather Cox Richardson for pointing me to Mr. Chidi.
By the way, if you aren’t following Heather Cox Richardson, you really should. She’s remarkable.
Another thing that happened yesterday, and perhaps inserting this into the middle of this post doesn’t do it the service it deserves.
Nonetheless, here it is, and I am sure we will be hearing more about this.
Yesterday, a REPUBLICAN-led bi-partisan Senate committee review concurred with Intelligence findings that yes, Russia, interfered in the 2016 election.
The REPUBLICAN led committee agree that the Russians helped to elect Donald J. Trump as President of the United States in 2016.
As I say, I think we’ll be hearing a bit more on that.
In the meantime, this year, we are celebrating Earth Day by inadvertently giving our entire planet a much-needed break.
Today, in the midst of all of the hardship and tragedy being experienced in every corner of the globe, we are, in spite of ourselves, celebrating with cleaner air.
We are, in spite of ourselves, celebrating with cleaner water.
I would be fascinated to know how much this “pause” is helping us towards achieving the goals of the Paris Accord.
I think that maybe we had the right idea and Earth is just encouraging us with all of this.
I think that we should always look for a silver-lining.
It makes life more bearable.
Sometimes they are not easy to see, and we have to squint.
Does Earth Day fix anything?
Does Earth Day matter?
Take a moment to look outside today.
Think about what we have been doing to our planet, for just a moment, and think about what we might be able to change when we start up again to improve things.
Today, in the midst of a gigantic mess, mostly of our own making, we can celebrate a silver-lining.
It’s dim, but in the right light it shimmers.
Happy Earth Day.