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Private jets are awful for the climate. It’s time to tax the rich who fly in them | US Senator Edward J Markey (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/usa@lemmy.ml

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[–] shiveyarbles@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But but.. politicians taxing their wealthy donors? I'll believe it when I see it.

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a chunk of the Democrats, notably 'progressives,' who are willing to do just that. Markey is one.

[–] shiveyarbles@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yup I'd like to see it, but Dems tend to do a lot of virtue signaling without follow through

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The major issue blocking their action is that every Republican votes against it, and a handful of Democrats are bought off, so they vote with the Republicans. The Republicans hold a majority in the House of Representatives, so this means that no new climate legislation is going to pass before the 2024 election.

[–] shiveyarbles@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I get it, but isn't it strange that we're always chasing the dragon, it's always just within reach.

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't say that.

In 1959, Teller spoke, but nothing happened
In 1988, we got congressional testimony from Hansen, but no legislation to speak of
In 2008 we had cap-and-trade legislation, but it didn't get a vote in the Senate because supporters counting votes saw it couldn't get even 40 votes
in 2022 the Inflation Reduction act passed, getting 50 + 1 votes in the Senate, after being converted in to an almost-all-carrots-no-stick type bill to appease the few Democrats who were being paid off by the fossil fuels industry.

We're on the right trajectory here, just not nearly fast enough