Quick Takes (v21): Now is Not the Time

Quick Takes

I opted not to attend Sunday School today, but I did want to check in with a quick take on timing.

As in, how one defines a good time for something, vs. a bad time for something, vs. the possibility that there will NEVER be a good time for something. Ready?

I'm not sure anyone is making a direct connection between climate change and hurricanes, but there may be some correlation, some of the science suggests: water temperature. The warmer the water, we're told, the stronger the hurricane.

And there seems to be at least some agreement that the waters in the gulf and the Atlantic are warming, whether it's a cyclical thing, or the result of man-influenced climate change. But - we're not allowed to talk about that: it's one of those conversations.  

You know - the kind we're not supposed to have right now. Because the Heritage Foundation told us it would only make things worse.

Here's why, according to a study referenced in the link above:

The bottom line in this analysis is that both observations of the past decades and models looking forward to the future do not suggest that one can explain the heavy rains of Harvey by global warming, and folks that are suggesting it are poorly informing the public and decision makers.

So: now, as we are trying to deal with the aftermath of two massive hurricanes, with potential rebuilding costs of $180B (Texas) and perhaps $200B (Florida), not counting the rest of Harvey and the damage to other US territories in the Caribbean, we shouldn't be gumming up the works, the conservatives tell us.

Further, these policies (addressing climate change - ed.) will destroy economic wealth, meaning fewer resources would be available to strengthen infrastructure to contain the future effects of natural disasters...

But, while this is not the time to talk about climate change, it is the time to talk about economic wealth.  Because the president said so, at his Camp David Cabinet meeting on September 9th (emphasis added):

To create prosperity at home we'll be discussing our plan for dramatic tax cuts and tax reform. And I think now with what's happened with the hurricane I'm going to ask for their speed up. I wanted to speed up anyway but now we need it even more so. So we need to simplify the tax code, reduce taxes very substantially on the middle class and make our business tax more globally competitive. We're the highest anywhere in the world right now...

So, to recap: it's never a good time to talk about climate change and man's possible impact on it, certainly not when we're dealing in the moment with two catastrophic hurricanes, because talking about "climate change" puts wealth at risk and without wealth we can't recover from disasters which might be influenced by man's impact on the climate.

But, it's always a good time to talk about reducing taxes on human people, and especially on bricks and mortar people, because that helps take our minds off two catastrophic hurricanes that are particularly devastating to those who already have so little.

Got it?