Wall Street Is More Than Willing to Fund the Green New Deal
Investing in the environment is already a $12 trillion market. Now markets are just looking for guidance from Congress.
Even before Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, introduced their Feb. 7 resolution outlining a “Green New Deal,” members of both parties were calling the idea unrealistic or worse. Republican Mike Simpson of Idaho, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said it was “loony” without specifying why, and John Barrasso, Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, labeled it an “absurd socialist manifesto.” Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’s been fearless in the face of Republican opposition on other issues, failed to bless it.
The plan’s greatest flaw, critics say, is that it would be too costly. Ocasio-Cortez advocates deficit spending, and she’s floated a 70 percent marginal tax rate for high earners that would generate some of the necessary revenue. But those worried about where the rest of the money will come from are forgetting one major, surprisingly enthusiastic player: Wall Street.