The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: It’s The Economy Stupid… Why Inflation May Sink Democrats And The Climate In 2022
Dear Diary. “The economy, stupid” is a phrase that was coined by James Carville in 1992. It is often quoted from a televised quip by Carville as “It’s the economy, stupid.” Carville was a strategist in Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against incumbent George H. W. Bush. From 1990 into 1991 George H. W. Bush enjoyed high favorable ratings because the economy was humming right along. By 1992, though, the economy tanked into recession mode, so Bush became politically vulnerable, and the rest was history.
Back in the 1970’s I can remember little buttons being given out by President Ford’s campaign saying “Whip Inflation Now.” From Wikipedia: Whip Inflation Now (WIN) was a 1974 attempt to spur a grassroots movement to combat inflation in the US, by encouraging personal savings and disciplined spending habits in combination with public measures, urged by U.S. President Gerald Ford. The campaign was later described as “one of the biggest government public relations blunders ever”.[2] Ford had taken office in August 1974 amidst one of the worst economic crises in US history, marked by high unemployment and inflation rising to 12.3% that year following the 1973 oil crisis.[2]
As a Republican, Ford favored the WIN campaign’s emphasis on addressing the problem through voluntary actions of citizens, instead of price restrictions imposed centrally by a big government bureaucracy.[2] “WIN” buttons immediately became objects of ridicule; skeptics wore the buttons upside down, explaining that “NIM” stood for “No Immediate Miracles,” “Nonstop Inflation Merry-go-round,” or “Need Immediate Money.”
In 1976 Ford lost to Jimmy Carter mainly because of a poor economy linked to inflation, not because of Ford’s link to Nixon from impeachment days and the fact that he pardoned that corrupt President, in my opinion. Fast forward to 2021, and we currently have about 6% inflation, the highest figure since 1990. Could inflation sink the Democrats and Joe Biden by the time another election is held in November 2022? You betcha.
If Republicans take control of Congress after 2022 they will try to dismantle all of Biden’s climate initiatives, even if Build Back Better gets passed. The Federal Government needs to take strong action to whip inflation in order to give some relief to the public and to keep great democratic policies going, such as those to initially fight the climate crisis. As described, the public is very fickle, voting mainly on pocketbook issues. Climate still is a peripheral issue for most. Unless we have some wild climate change induced weather, affecting a majority of people across the U.S. during 2022, I just don’t see vast numbers of the public voting on that issue next year.
Also, in midterm elections the political party in power usually looses. A third reason why the Democrats may loose the House of Representatives and the Senate would be gerrymandering within red states. All of this should behoove Biden and the Democrats to get as much done as possible on climate and other issues before the November 2022 midterms.
Ironically, the inflated high price of a gallon of gasoline may sink our climate. It’s hard to ween ourselves off gasoline since the vast majority of the public depend on it for transportation, even though high prices for petroleum should quicken our switch to renewables. Politically, the road on the climate issue is going to get very rocky from here on out, so strap in and buckle up.
Here are some more COP26 articles and news:
Here are more recently reported global “ET’s:”
Here is more October 2021 climatology:
Here is more climate and weather news from Thursday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”