2408 - ‘Greening’ Public Power; NYC Congestion Pricing Begins w/ Sandeep Vaheesan, Hayden Clarkin

It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at the Open Markets Institute, to discuss his recent book Democracy In Power: A History of Electrification in the United States. Then, she speaks with Hayden Clarkin, also known as the Transit Guy on Twitter, to discuss the recent implementation of congestion pricing in New York City. First, Emma runs through updates on California’s devastating wildfires, the laying to rest of Jimmy Carter, the progression of the Lincoln Riley Act through the Senate, Trump’s plan to round up undocumented immigrants in DC post-inauguration, Alito’s behind-the-scenes dealings with Trump, Trump’s record-setting corporate fundraising, the GOP’s Hunter Biden informant, Biden’s diminishing mental health, major labor action among dock, Amazon, and Ski Patrol workers, and Obamacare’s record-setting enrollment, before unpacking some coverage of the Palisades Fire in California, and the parasitic role insurance agencies have taken on. Sandeep Vaheesan then joins, briefly unpacking his initial reactions to the environmental catastrophes unfolding in California right now and the incremental technocratic improvements to the US’ climate agenda under Biden, before diving into the surprising buoying of  US energy infrastructure on – get this – publicly owned or cooperative utilities. Expanding on that latter point, Vaheesan parses through the history of the public sector’s role in US energy infrastructure, starting with the New Deal’s attempt to address the dearth of electrification in rural and farming communities, with FDR moving to recognize electricity as a necessity, rather than a luxury, and establishing the Rural Electrification Agency, which helped to expand access farmer access to electricity from 1 in 10 to 9 in 10, before diving deep into the extensive and overwhelming response from private industry, from the expansive propaganda effort – reviewing, rewriting, and replacing textbooks, purchasing newspaper space, and more – through their powerful push against regulatory institutions. Moving forward through the beginning of the neoliberal turn, Sandeep brings Emma through the process of the privatization of energy grids under this deregulation process, making room for the atrocious grid management we see from Texas nowadays, before wrapping up with the recent reemergence of initiatives for expanding publicly-owned utilities. Hayden Clarkin then joins, running through a brief history of the four-year “will they, won’t they” between NYC and congestion pricing despite the obvious benefits it would provide the city. Next, Clarkin walks through the major progress congestion pricing has already provided, with incredible improvements to traffic and emergency vehicle response time, with all of the funding benefits still unrealized. They also unpack the genuine divide between the productive possibilities of public works and the growing disillusionment and discontent with the US’ political institutions, wrapping up with the ongoing battle between Jersey and NYC over this move.

And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder as they dive deep into Trump’s increasing territorial threats to Panama and Greenland and work on balancing the genuine danger he poses with the absurdity of his claims (with help from Dave from Jamaica). Brittany from Colorado calls in about aid for Californians, and the MR Team unpacks Schumer’s atrocious leadership during the era of the corporatist Democratic Party. Brook from Sacramento unpacks the alarming trend of bad faith anti-academic internal rhetoric among the male-dominated Econ majors, plus, your calls and IMs!

Follow Sandeep on Twitter here: https://x.com/sandeepvaheesan

Check out Sandeep's book here: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo238463843.html

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