The EPA

Thom Hartman is terrified the conservative Supreme Court is preparing to overturn environmental law as we know it. I say, good riddance. He writes: "they want to turn regulatory agency rule-making upside down" and then proceeds to explain how good capitalist state regulation is SUPPOSED to work. The true believers in a kinder, more sustainable capitalism (the kind slave master) never lose their faith, even when the EPA and all the regulations and all the well-meaning bureaucrats have not prevented environmental breakdown on a planet-threatening level. If the SCOTUS wants to puncture the illusion, like Trump punctured the illusion of "democracy", Please, let them lift the veil. Here isThom describing the great way things currently work: "The experts’ suggestions are then run past a panel of rule-making bureaucrats and hired-gun rule-making experts for the EPA to decide what the standards should be. They take into consideration the current abilities of industry and the costs versus the benefits of various rules, among other things." In each part of that description you can see exactly why we still have lead pipes for drinking water, still have pesticides and hebicides, are rapidly approaching 425 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. What could possibly go wrong as we weigh "costs and benefits"? Costs as seen through the lens of the capitalist market. Costs externalized away. Thom has never recognized this? He goes on to say: "Congress passes laws that empower regulatory agencies to solve problems, the agencies figure out how and put the rules into place, and the solutions get enforced by the agencies." Just like the Magnificent Framers of the Constitution imagined it! It must be nice to live in such a fantasy world. I recall being taught all this pablum in civics class in jr.High, the reverence in the teachers voice for the Divinely inspired wisdom of OUR Fathers. This is a painful period for liberals, learning how the Supremes are actually just a bunch of ideological hacks, how politicians don't actually do politics, how capitalist democracy is just one big "cost- benefit analysis." And the EPA doesn't actually protect the environment. Bummer.