I agree with Joseph Green in his criticism of Shane Mage's ideas about dealing with global warming strictly through the market mechanism of a "price on carbon" whether through a carbon tax or some other way.
But I would go much beyond Joseph Green as to policy that we can win and must win. Regulation is fine, and welcome but it doesn't change much. Basically it delivers Business as Usual (BAU) with clean energy. And it would leave the Capitalist growth imperative in place throughout the world. The policy that we must have is a sharp (and repeated) reduction in working hours, WITH NO CUT IN PAY. That will shift income from the 1% (and from the top 20%) to the rest of us, will result in a drop in GHG, and do much more, including adding jobs in the USA Jobs are not coming back in the US unless hours are cut. And hours have been cut, repeatedly in the US in the past, and of course in other countries as well. The realistic policy for dealing with GHG is to cut working hours, though regulation and even a price on carbon added to the policy mix won't hurt. But fundamental to cutting carbon is cutting hours. Gene On Nov 21, 2014, at 7:35 AM, Joseph Green <[email protected]> wrote: > Shane Mage imagines that, if only the carbon tax is implemented, the > "capitalist market" will solve the environmental crisis "by its own 'logic' > ". This means he believes that Adam Smith's "invisible hand" can be taught to > do what we want, in this case, solve the environmental crisis. This is a > market fundamentalist fantasy. To back up this fantasy, he imagines that the > only measures that could realistically be fought for prior to the socialist > revolution are market-fundamentalist measures, measures to have the market > "by its own 'logic' " solve the problem. > > Lead was removed from gasoline by banning it; lead was removed from new > paints by banning it; the most successful steps towards environmental > controls are by regulation, control, banning harmful processes, etc. > Meanwhile the attempts to have the "invisible hand" solve environmental > issues have either failed or slowed down the progress. > > Shane Mage believes that anything other than market fundamentalist measures > like the carbon tax would be "ultraleft idiocy". If this were true, then the > minimum wage, the banning of lead from gasoline, and other measures that go > against the "logic of the 'market' " would also be "ultraleft idiocy". Under > capitalism, there will be a constant struggle over environmental measures > because the "logic of the 'market' " is to devastate the environmental. Shane > Mage capitulates to the capitalists when he looks for a way to ally with the > "logic of the 'market' "; this is, however, what Al Gore puts forward in his > books. Gore does a service in denouncing the looming dangers, but puts > forward the path to ruin in advocating alliance with marketplace logic. It's > a pity to see radicals whose viewpoint is no deeper than Al Gore's. > > In my article of 2007 on the environmental crisis, I wrote: > > "But the environmental crisis is upon us now, while capitalism still exists. > Major steps will have to be taken soon, while the present capitalist ruling > classes are still in power. As the failure of carbon emission markets to > solve the problem becomes evident, they may take steps to implement carbon > taxes; and as the failure of carbon taxes becomes evident, they will have to > move to some type of regulation of production. True, the capitalists will > likely wait until their hands are forced by a series of spectacular > environmental disasters, and by then the situation will be quite desperate. > But the time is coming closer when the capitalists will have to abandon > neo-liberal orthodoxy, and move towards a regulated capitalism." > > I then go on to explain why we should fight regulated capitalism as well as > neo-liberal capitalism, and we should fight it over measures to be > implemented now, prior to revolution. I explain the difference between > regulated capitalism, which the reformists will call "socialism", and the > demands that the working masses should put forward to protect the environment > and their own livelihood. > > ("The coming of the environmental crisis, the failure of the free market, and > the fear of a carbon dictatorship", January 2007, > http://communistvoice.org/39cKyoto.html) > > In my article of 2008, "The carbon tax--another failed free-market measure to > avoid environmental planning", I gave a series of concrete reasons why the > carbon tax is a disaster for the environmental movement. > (http://communistvoice.org/00GlobalWarming.html) I think those reasons hold > up well in the light of subsequent experience. > > The carbon tax won't solve the environmental crisis, but moreover, it will > threaten to discredit environmentalism in the eyes of millions upon millions > of people. It turns the slogan of "make the polluter pay" into "make the > people pay", and it will make it harder to rally support for the measures > needed now. The environmental movement inflicts the greatest harm upon itself > with its own hands when it pushes the carbon tax. > > -- Joseph Green > > >> >> [Joseph Green ]On Nov 20, 2014, at 11:30 PM, Joseph Green via Marxism > wrote: >>> Klein prettifies the carbon tax, and does not recognize it as >>> a market measure, no better than the rest of them; >> >> [Shane Mage] This is the purest ultraleft idiocy. ... Effective carbon >> taxation is not merely "better"--it is the ONLY way to make the >> intensification of pollution so UNPROFITABLE that the capitalist >> market totally abandons it and is forced, by its own "logic," to >> recognize and act on the real, and ever-increasing, profitability of >> investment in the whole range of maturing carbon-eliminating energy >> technologies. >> >> >> Herakleitos of Ephesos >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pen-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > ----------------------------------- > Joseph Green > [email protected] > ------------------------------------ > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
