LARRY KUDLOW: The immediate danger from global warming is a hoax
All the news reports are chronicling how cold it's going to be when Iowans caucus on Monday. It could be -30 degrees — BRRRR! But you know what? Iowans are going to vote anyway, because they know it's January, and it gets cold in January. This is not a big deal.
On the other hand, I'd like to enlarge the "Iowa Cold" story. The Washington Post is running a story on how "severe cold weather could break hundreds of records this weekend." Really? A blast of arctic air will freeze the western and central U.S. with temperatures in some places up to 60 degrees below normal. Parts of Montana may hit -40.
The Washington Post story goes on: The cold could be life-threatening and make for frigid NFL playoff games and Iowa caucuses. Well, now, Washington Post and all your liberal media friends — where's John Kerry now that we need him? Oh, wait a minute!
LARRY KUDLOW: DONALD TRUMP HAD A BIG NIGHT
He's always telling us about global warming. An existential threat — see Janet Yellen for details on that. Hang on, it's an immediate existential threat, but what about all this sub-freezing, sub-zero, record temperatures? That sounds like global freezing.
I even remember the "Big Freeze" cover of TIME magazine back in the early 1970s. Coming back to today's news, the only headline I can find about global warming hysteric John Kerry is how much money he and his global warming staff are being paid in the State Department budget. $4 million bucks — for what?
I'm going to come out and say it: The immediate danger from global warming is a hoax. It's a left-wing, Bidenesque hoax. It's a socialist, Green New Deal hoax.
There may be climate change over the next hundred years, but like Bjorn Lomborg or Steve Koonin, I'm more than willing to wait for technological innovation and economic growth to take care of it. There is no immediate threat. We have bouts of cold weather and bouts of hot weather, but weekly weather reports are different than century-long climate change cycles, and the American public is in full revolt.
Hat-tip to the Committee to Unleash Prosperity hotline citing a survey by Deloitte showing 67% of consumers prefer an internal combustion engine in their next car purchase. Just 6% prefer pure EVs and 21% like hybrids.
Not so long ago, President Biden was praising Hertz rental cars for buying electric vehicles. However, yesterday, Hertz announced a fire sale on 20,000 EVs that rental drivers just don't want. The company took a $245 million loss on the unwanted EVs.
Of course, most of the batteries will be made in China — indeed, a large share of the EVs will be made in China. They're our biggest adversary. Why is Biden helping them? In fact, why did Joe Biden and his Democratic allies jam through over a trillion dollars worth of subsidies for EVs and all other things climate change bankrupting U.S. finances?
Just this week they jammed through another $623 million for EV charging stations people don't want. Why are the Biden bureaucrats telling us we can't have gas stoves, coal-fired pizza ovens, hot water heaters, ceiling fans and every other appliance restriction they're jamming down our throats? Or states telling us we can't have gasoline-powered cars in a couple years?
Why indeed did the Bidens declare war on fossil fuels in the first place? Jacking up gasoline, electricity and food prices — not to speak of record inflation?
Increases in world oil prices financing American enemies in Russia and Iran. They are causing middle-class families to see their real incomes falling here at home. None of this makes any sense at all. Donald Trump is right about the importance of liquid gold. Yeah, it's going to be really cold in Iowa on Monday. Drill, baby, drill.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the January 12, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."