IHouse Republicans approved legislation Friday that would slash nearly 40 percent of the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The funding bill, passed by a 213-203 vote, cuts 39 percent of the EPA’s budget and would be the smallest budget the agency has had in three decades. Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.) and Marc Molinaro (N.Y.) voted against the bill, while Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (Texas) was recorded as voting for it.

  • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Uncontrolled capitalism is going to kill us all. But at least the share holders will be pleased along the way.

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        With capitalism as the primary mover.

        It’s cheaper for manufacturing if they don’t want to worry about toxic waste products. The desire for more profit is behind this.

        • Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works
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          I think it is more too much centralization and a lack of governance which is even bad for capitalism as runaway capitalism sucks all the oxygen out of the air to everyone’s ultimate detriment even the billionaires.

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          Are there any communists countries handling their demand for energy vs environmental concerns better than the capitalistic ones?

          • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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            It’s not an either-or situation. A good middle ground is a capitalist base with strong oversight. The same oversight they’re dismantling for profit.

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            I’m not a communist because I think communism is a big failure.

            So is deregulation and unfettered capitalism. It’s why every time we deregulate and cut taxes, the wealth gap gets wider, life gets shitter for everyone but the wealthiest, etc…

            These are the same clowns who added most of the debt (Bush and Trump tax cuts) then complain about the debt when they’re no longer in power.

              • prole@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                Finland, for one.

                They’re obviously not communists, but somehow I have a feeling you’re the type of person who thinks they are.

                You will say they’re not for this argument, but when it suits you, you’ll call them that at the drop of a hat.

                • fleabomber@lemm.ee
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                  I was being a butthole and suggesting capitalism isn’t the Boogeyman we’ve all been searching for all along. I like Finland.

          • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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            There are no truly communist countries. There are state capitalist countries like China. But in terms of actual communism. The kind Karl Marx and his contemporaries envisioned. China is practically anti-communist. Also, if you’re looking for communist countries, you’re going to have a bad time. Communism is generally stateless and in the extremes even anti-state.

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              Ironically yes. I say ironically, because China is not communist. It is state capitalist. Previously 10 to 15 years ago it was not uncommon to see pictures of major urban centers largely obscured by toxic haze. Things have actually improved significantly since then. China rapidly freezing out a lot of the old polluting coal infrastructure and going all in on solar renewables and even nuclear. This doesn’t excuse or justify the brutal social repression enforced by the dictator and his party. But I mean compare that with the United States where micro dick in the house and his cronies past a bill. Gutting funding for the already underfunded EPA by almost another 50%. At least to a nominal extent on environmental issues and energy policy. China is actually trending forward. Whereas America is yearning to go backwards.

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        Why do you think they want the government out of the way?

        Capitalism is the cheat code to power. Who needs a government when you have unlimited money?

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    What happened to the conservatives that liked to preserve the environment for hunting, fishing, camping, etc?

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      I’m not sure we have Conservatives anymore, those that want to conserve things. I think perhaps they should be called Regressives, they that want to regress.

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      Probably dead during covid or because that generation of people are dying off. Some religious folks might hold the rosy view that covid was the rapture.

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        I know of at least 6 dead and one on permanent Oxygen in Idaho. Covid denialism did no-one any favors.

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        Damn I really want to see an Evangelical version of Midnight Mass where Covid is the Rapture now.

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    Fucking GOP is going to kill us all much more quickly. It sounds insane written out but it’s absolutely true

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      Why? If people want efficient cars they would buy them at high numbers. That would give an incentive for car makers to continue making more efficient cars.

      Right now you have a bunch of crap iut there that people don’t want like electric cars

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        incentive for car makers to continue making more efficient cars.

        That’s never been true. Profits on big inefficient cars have always been higher than smaller efficient so that’s what’s been advertised and pushed during sales. Some brands went fully SUV and are unable to sell anything smaller when fuel prices go up and customers look for something less gas guzzling.

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          Yes, I wouldn’t buy a small car anymore and my trax gets great mileage.

          Why would I want to be forced to use an electric car that would take me the better part of an hour to get 80% of its range charge while sitting ina random parking lot and rhays if there is even a space avaliable. Ornwhen driving linger distances I have to be afraid of making it to one of the few sporadic charing stations to again wait the better part of an hour to charge 80% of my car or longer of there is a line. I can gas up in under five minutes and go another 350 miles down the road.

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            Of course you are restricted with what you can buy and use on the roads. Try to go full Mad Max with a battering ram and a flame thrower. Even drunk driving isn’t allowed. Why is that not allowed? It could hurt others. And exhaust is proven to hurt others too by premature status and even contribute to causing autism. But that kind of hurt is indirect so should be allowed because the inconvenience to charging is too big.

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              Ah yes. I wonder how bad it will be with lithium posioning. What happens to all those kids that are mining the substance by hand in third world countries ? Doesn’t matter because that hurt is indirect to you? Maybe you are just racist and don’t care about people in third world countries ? What about all the by product that will sit and leach into the environment here ? Think of all the green technology out there like solar panels that aren’t recycled. How many decades of useless panels just sitting there decaying into our environment. But that is an indirect hurt right ? Just ignore it all so that you can feel like you did something good. And what of the poor people who have to replace thier junker with expensive electric cars. Let’s just add a huge cost burden on them. Oh and fuck them of they don’t own thier own way of charging the car. Make them go to a parking lot amd sit there for hours to charge their car. Cause fuck them they are poor am I right?

              • SlopppyEngineer@discuss.tchncs.de
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                Lithium poisoning? Better not make laptops and phones anymore.

                Those substances are also mined for oil production and infrastructure. Molybdenum for oil pipe lines. Cobalt for refining. Luckily research replacing those materials in green tech. The same cannot be said for fossil fuel production.

                Where I live, recycling of solar panels is more than 90%. I hope gasoline recycling is about the same ratio.

                Yes, cars are expensive. We should ideally invest in good, cheap and clean public transportation, but yeah, fuck the poor. Of course the poor also live closer to busy roads and have more health problems because of exhaust, but again fuck the poor. When climate change hits even more and houses get flooded or baked in heatwaves it won’t be the poor neighborhoods that’ll receive help first.

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        Trucks are heavily advertised over cars because selling a truck produces more profit.

        Over time, those advertisements convince Americans that they need a F-150 4x4 EXTREME DUTY ULTRA RUGGED truck.

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          And what if they actually need that truck for work ? Some people do more than sit in a cubical all day.

          I need a siv for work. There isn’t a car large enough to fit my equipment in it. I could gonwoth a van I guess but I perfer the suv. The siv also gets better gas mileage and I can use it for my family when I need too.

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        You know why. But congrats that you got that little ping of dopamine that you get when you “slightly annoy” or fuck with a couple dozen strangers on the internet. That sweet little hit.

        But I also bet you get that second, likely smaller ping as well. That one doesn’t feel quite as nice, but you’re learning to push it to the back, not let it effect you. But it effects you. Every time it takes something away from you and you can feel it. Or at least you used to… until you let it die. And you can’t help but feel something else (your empathy perhaps) is gone with it. Forever.

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    Hey everyone, thanks for attending our meeting on how to be more evil. We’ve got plenty of ideas to work on, but i think we should start with how we can better destroy the environment and earn some money while we do it.

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    It’s interesting how these “critical cuts” we need to make to the budget always come out of the enforcement agencies keeping track of the companies bribing them with campaign money.

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      It’s important because it shows exactly what they stand for in legal writing. Yeah it won’t pass but it’s still good to note.

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        And the Dems better make sure the voters know about it instead of just focusing exclusively on the abortion issue over and over.

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        And if it managed to pass in the Senate, then it would likely be VOA (Vetoed On Arrival) on President Joe Biden’s desk.

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          Because Mike Johnson isn’t in my district or anywhere near it. But I know my representative’s voting history, and that’s what matters. Local governance is very important.

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          I think it was the Conspirituality podcast (or maybe It Could Happen Here) that said, “The candidates that win are the ones that have the most charisma.”

          Like you say, the public in general doesn’t care about policy stances; they care about how likeable the politicians are on camera.

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    Democracy has been dead for the GOP. This is just authoritarianism in action under the guise of democracy. Fucking crooks.

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    Smallest budget in 3 decades by dollar value, or inflation adjusted?

    Something tells me if you account for inflation, it’s gonna be more than 3 decades.

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    I approve of cutting 40% of each gop house member off and using the waste fat (there will be a lot) to heat my house through the winter.

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    This is a way to pass the buck to Biden for the government shutdown. He’s likely to veto that, if it even gets there.

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    The House is going to shut down the government and default on the debt.

    The most terrifying words ever said are “I’m Republican and I’m here to help.”

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    Fuck you got mine. The cunts will all be dead long before they feel the serious impact. Big baby jesus knows they don’t give a flying fuck about anyone else, not even their fucking progeny.

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      That’s what we used to think but it’s already here and thanks to those corrupt swine, it’s only going to get worse faster as their owner donors ESCALATE rather than cut back, pretending that hypothetical carbon offsets erase real and immediate harm.