(July 20) With Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, it’s hard to know what’s worse: his “you must suffer for your own good” sanctimony or his abject economic illiteracy.
In a July 19 congressional hearing, Buttigieg accidentally said the Biden administration’s quiet part out loud: higher gasoline prices, rather than being an unfortunate reality, are actually part of the strategy.
“The more pain that we are all experiencing from the high price of gas, the more benefit there is for those who can access electric vehicles,” Buttigieg said, with a tone of voice and an expression indicating he is quite pleased with the situation.
Never mind, by the way, that the power for electric cars is usually produced by burning fossil fuels anyway, so slightly more than half the carbon emissions “saved” by jettisoning gasoline engines are still emitted. Moreover, according to JustFacts, when taking into account the needs for the manufacture, use, and disposal of automobiles, electric cars from “cradle to grave” actually increase human carcinogenic toxicity, emission of fine particulate matter, freshwater ecotoxicity, and human non-carcinogenic toxicity.
But that’s all OK for Buttigieg because he can feel virtuous by making it so expensive to use gasoline that we move to somewhat carbon-saving electric cars instead. Serving the ideology must come first, right?
From misplaced sanctimony, Buttigieg then moved to financial ignorance. When Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) noted the transportation secretary’s weirdly gleeful response to the prospect of “more pain that we are all experiencing from the high price of gas,” Buttigieg tried to pivot.
He said the solution lies in “making [electric vehicles] cheaper for everybody” by subsidizing them.
Gimenez quite reasonably said, “That doesn’t make them cheaper.” Buttigieg replied, “Well, actually, it does.”
Can Buttigieg be “well actually” that dumb?
HINT: NO, IT DOESN’T……. [The full column is right here.]
