Matt Yglesias asks why the budget gets more attention than the climate:
I can’t quite get my head around the combination of Washington’s obsession with decades-away projected fiscal shortfalls and it’s total lack of interest in decades-away projected climate disaster. If you asked me why the political prospects for addressing the climate crisis are so bleak, I’d say it’s easy to understand. The worst effects of it are in the fairly distant future, the rich old people who run the country will be dead by then, etc. But at the same time, everyone’s obsessed with the idea that Medicare will be too costly in 2070.
Ryan Avent adds that "many of the policies one might want to adopt to reduce emissions are also good ways to raise revenue." Amen. But climate change will not lead to a collapse of the American economy, like fiscal default would. And good luck with what's really necessary: a big gas tax hike.
The Dish 