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Which, to be clear, the interests of the Texas Republican legislators have absolutely nothing to do with the working class refinery jobs and everything to do wi

Which, to be clear, the interests of the Texas Republican legislators have absolutely nothing to do with the working class refinery jobs and everything to do with the billionaires who own them. Move a little west and you'll find that central Texas is also a powerhouse for solar and wind, and there are plenty of racially diverse folks building and installing wind turbines in Texas. But the Texas Republican legislators threw them under the bus with a misinformation campaign after the grid failure (which was caused by natural gas power plants not being properly winterized) and they continue to barely tolerate the industry as long as it continues to make money.

rayiner 4y ago
> Which, to be clear, the interests of the Texas Republican legislators have absolutely nothing to do with the working class refinery jobs and everything to do with the billionaires who own them. An individual's interests are multifaceted, and align or deviate along different dimensions. Workers have conflicting interests with their employers at a workplace level (e.g. over safety regulations) but convergent interests with their employers at an industry level. Politics is downstream of economic interests. Democratic rhetoric was positive about midwestern factory workers even as economic dynamics recentered the party around tech and knowledge workers who benefit from globalization. The negative impacts of that hit not only those factory workers (who have been rebranded as "deplorables" as a result of that new economic calculus) but also the local business owners who used to own those factories that are now in China. > Move a little west and you'll find that central Texas is also a powerhouse for solar and wind, and there are plenty of racially diverse folks building and installing wind turbines in Texas. Installing Chinese-made solar panels and wind turbines is a huge downgrade from drilling, refining, and exporting American oil. It creates fewer jobs and those jobs are lower on the value chain.
JamesBarney 4y ago
It was both the natural gas plants not being winterized and the wind turbines energy production being intermittent. And how much each is responsible depends on how you do the analysis.

rayiner 4y ago

> Which, to be clear, the interests of the Texas Republican legislators have absolutely nothing to do with the working class refinery jobs and everything to do with the billionaires who own them. An individual's interests are multifaceted, and align or deviate along different dimensions. Workers have conflicting interests with their employers at a workplace level (e.g. over safety regulations) but convergent interests with their employers at an industry level. Politics is downstream of economic interests. Democratic rhetoric was positive about midwestern factory workers even as economic dynamics recentered the party around tech and knowledge workers who benefit from globalization. The negative impacts of that hit not only those factory workers (who have been rebranded as "deplorables" as a result of that new economic calculus) but also the local business owners who used to own those factories that are now in China. > Move a little west and you'll find that central Texas is also a powerhouse for solar and wind, and there are plenty of racially diverse folks building and installing wind turbines in Texas. Installing Chinese-made solar panels and wind turbines is a huge downgrade from drilling, refining, and exporting American oil. It creates fewer jobs and those jobs are lower on the value chain.

JamesBarney 4y ago

It was both the natural gas plants not being winterized and the wind turbines energy production being intermittent. And how much each is responsible depends on how you do the analysis.