TWO Major Social Problems?
Published by BG on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 at 11:02 AM.The Blog | Steve Clemons: Obama's Interesting Proposal for the Automobile Sector | The Huffington Post
Barack Obama's policy shop is kicking out some good stuff.
I find this proposal of his, reported by Bloomberg, to help American automobile manufacturers offset retiree health care costs for gains in cutting carbon emissions intriguing. Of course, there are flaws, like in most great ideas, but it's an interesting and commendable gesture that gets away from the nasty, destructive battles in the past between automakers and progressive environmentalists.
Obama is linking progress on two major social problems so that one leverages gains in the other.
Look, we know "the environment" is a social concern, and we know "health care" is a social concern, but it's disingenuous to connect the health care costs of automotive retirees with global warming as a two-noble-birds-with-one-progressive-stone solution.
Who exactly are the benefits of this "offset (of) retiree health care costs?" The automotive industry, naturally. While there can be a tenuous connection drawn between keeping people healthy and insured and the public not having to pony up tax dollars for medical welfare, this policy of Obama's isn't addressing a "major social problem" of health care with this solution. He's subsidizing the bail-out of obligations a specific industry has found too onerous to which to adhere, and in return is proposing the industry works a little harder to meet environmental standards which market forces are likely to demand in coming years anyway.
Let's call this what it is - the give-and-take of politics, and Obama building relationships with certain segments of corporate America that could benefit from the types of corporate welfare that appears to have a positive impact on the general public. I've got no problem with this type of pandering, as it's how you develop a donor base and engage people on all sides in constructive cooperation, But let's stop just short of framing this idea as a panacea for both health care and global warming, alright?
Now, if we want to talk about the loss of manufacturing jobs as a "major social problem," I'd be all for it. How about tying these proposed subsidies to the automotive industry to both environmental reform and commitments to build their cars and trucks a little north of Juarez?
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