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> if we hang these people out to dry we will pay the price down the line. If we continue promoting industries that cause the global climate to worsen more rap

> if we hang these people out to dry we will pay the price down the line. If we continue promoting industries that cause the global climate to worsen more rapidly, we're going to pay a MUCH bigger price down the line. Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative.

kennywinker 7y ago
> Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative. The options are not fire them or keep screwing the planet. There's a third option: fire them but don't HANG THEM OUT TO DRY. Provide a social safety net - retraining, early retirement, health care, etc. This is the whole idea behind the "green new deal"... catch the people who would otherwise be ground up by the transition away from fossil fuels.
- bdamm 7y ago
  It isn’t like governments haven’t been trying. Certain groups prefer “job creation” over “government programs” and then get angry when their industry collapses. America has an education problem, and we need more people taking microeconomics in high school.
- mikestew 7y ago
  We could have a social safety net, but if the reporting and polls are to be believed, many of those in these collapsing industries have tended to vote for those trying really hard to dismantle what social safety nets we have. Let alone implement new ones. I imagine that is because candidates promised to save their jobs. But no one thought to ask, “what happens if they don’t?”
  - kennywinker 7y ago
    So do we get mad at the people who believed the lies and got swindled, or the people who told the lies and got rich?
chillacy 7y ago
> Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative. I don't think that's worked out very well so far. America is polarized on economic lines, and as long as some people's interests are unaligned with the environment / global needs, then this will continue. The way you actually remove these jobs for good is to change the incentives for these workers so that they benefit from the new order. This is why I think elements of the Green New Deal are a good idea: because it says that these folks have an even better future with green jobs than the present.

kennywinker 7y ago

> Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative. The options are not fire them or keep screwing the planet. There's a third option: fire them but don't HANG THEM OUT TO DRY. Provide a social safety net - retraining, early retirement, health care, etc. This is the whole idea behind the "green new deal"... catch the people who would otherwise be ground up by the transition away from fossil fuels.

bdamm 7y ago
It isn’t like governments haven’t been trying. Certain groups prefer “job creation” over “government programs” and then get angry when their industry collapses. America has an education problem, and we need more people taking microeconomics in high school.
mikestew 7y ago
We could have a social safety net, but if the reporting and polls are to be believed, many of those in these collapsing industries have tended to vote for those trying really hard to dismantle what social safety nets we have. Let alone implement new ones. I imagine that is because candidates promised to save their jobs. But no one thought to ask, “what happens if they don’t?”
- kennywinker 7y ago
  So do we get mad at the people who believed the lies and got swindled, or the people who told the lies and got rich?

chillacy 7y ago

> Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative. I don't think that's worked out very well so far. America is polarized on economic lines, and as long as some people's interests are unaligned with the environment / global needs, then this will continue. The way you actually remove these jobs for good is to change the incentives for these workers so that they benefit from the new order. This is why I think elements of the Green New Deal are a good idea: because it says that these folks have an even better future with green jobs than the present.