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Clintonomics and Climate Change
This issue of energy and global warming has the promise of creating millions of new jobs in America. It can be a win-win, if we do it right.
- Sen. Hillary Clinton, at the Democratic debate in South Carolina
James Pethokoukis scrutinizes the economic logic of Senator Clinton’s statement and determines that she has committed the classic broken window fallacy. Pethoukoukis argues that spending billions of dollars on a “supposed problem” may add climate change-related jobs, but at the cost of other jobs that actually increase productivity in “the nanotechnology industry or healthcare or business consulting or some industry we have yet to imagine.”
Perhaps Clinton should read up on the TANSTAAFL principle before she gives us any more economic predictions. If she’s unfamiliar with it, all she’ll need to do is consult a collegiate Freshman who has pulled a C or better in Econ 101.