Krugman: Republicans oppose environmental protection because it's a class issue

[HomerRamone]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/opinion/paul-krugman-pollution-and-politics.html?gwh=983CE4FE218C454230F8D7406588CB5D&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion

ideology is only part of the story — or, more accurately, it’s a symptom of the underlying cause of the divide: rising inequality.

The basic story of political polarization over the past few decades is that, as a wealthy minority has pulled away economically from the rest of the country, it has pulled one major party along with it. True, Democrats often cater to the interests of the 1 percent, but Republicans always do. Any policy that benefits lower- and middle-income Americans at the expense of the elite — like health reform, which guarantees insurance to all and pays for that guarantee in part with taxes on higher incomes — will face bitter Republican opposition.

And environmental protection is, in part, a class issue, even if we don’t usually think of it that way. Everyone breathes the same air, so the benefits of pollution control are more or less evenly spread across the population. But ownership of, say, stock in coal companies is concentrated in a few, wealthy hands. Even if the costs of pollution control are passed on in the form of higher prices, the rich are different from you and me. They spend a lot more money, and, therefore, bear a higher share of the costs.

In the case of the new ozone plan, the E.P.A.’s analysis suggests that, for the average American, the benefits would be more than twice the costs. But that doesn’t necessarily matter to the nonaverage American driving one party’s priorities. On ozone, as with almost everything these days, it’s all about inequality.

[snot]

1. The super-rich

are super-powerful; at least, they have the power to bend governments and whole populations to their will through bribes and the euphemistically-named public relations.

They also have the power to buy not just survivable but luxurious living spaces protected from the ravages of global warming, etc.

But are they really going to want to live in the world they create in this way?

[pampango]

2. "On ozone, as with almost everything these days, it’s all about inequality."

So true. And:

Democrats often cater to the interests of the 1 percent, but Republicans always do. Any policy that benefits lower- and middle-income Americans at the expense of the elite — like health reform, which guarantees insurance to all and pays for that guarantee in part with taxes on higher incomes — will face bitter Republican opposition.

[hatrack]

3. And, of course, hippy-punching . . .

As someone else noted, the purpose of approving and building Keystone XL is to defeat those who oppose approving and building Keystone XL.

Tribal bullshit at its finest and most predictable.

[socialist_n_TN]

4. Paul, I understand you're a Keynesian, but.......

maybe one day you'll realize that Marx was right. It's ALWAYS class based because it's capitalism.