3. GND collapses into cronyism-government won’t protect the poor/most vulnerable because they have no political influence

(Nicolas, Deputy Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Herbert and Joyce Morgan fellow at The Heritage Foundation, https://www.heritage.org/energy-economics/commentary/the-great-hypocrisy-the-green-new-deal, 3-5)

Green New Dealers are trying to sell their policies in the name of economic security and justice. However, policies that take away affordable, reliable power from American families are highly regressive. Higher energy costs hit low-income households hardest, because they spend a higher percentage of their budget on energy. The higher these costs climb, the more they are forced to make difficult choices between keeping the heat on or providing food for their family or perhaps going to the doctor. Higher energy prices mean more than just having less money available for other necessities. It means having to spend more for all of the goods and services you purchase. That’s because energy is a critical component of manufacturing, communications and transportation—all of which are involved in getting goods and services to your household. The Green New Deal doesn’t lead to more economic security and justice. It leads to greater economic strain, with low-income families being stressed the most. And where’s the justice in cronyism and corporate welfare. The Green New Deal would open the floodgates of both. Ocasio-Cortez rightly blasted New York’s special tax breaks for Amazon’s proposed HQ2. Offering up billions in state and city special tax breaks left a sour taste in many peoples’ mouths. Cronyism works for big companies because they can offer a lot: investment, jobs and prosperity. But it is not a strategy for long-term economic success because it comes at the expense of other investments and opportunities. The investments will come when there’s an attractive, level-playing field for all companies to compete. The Green New Deal would introduce significantly higher level of cronyism because Ocasio-Cortez wants the federal government (i.e., American taxpayers) to pay for the whole thing. Remember Solyndra, the half-billion dollar solar boondoggle that went belly up? That’s just a small taste of things to come under a Green New Deal that puts potentially trillions of dollars up for grabs. As was the case with Solyndra, when the feds start picking energy technologies and companies to fund, they are essentially gambling with other peoples’ money. And there is never a guarantee the bet will pay off. Solyndra is merely one example of a failed company that could not survive even with the federal government’s help. And there are many other examples of green cronyism that even more closely parallel New York’s erstwhile deal with Amazon, which Ocasio-Cortez found so distasteful. Taxpayers gave money or government-backed loans to companies that already enjoyed large market capitalization and/or substantial private investors. Federal “investment” wasn’t needed. But, hey, who’s gonna turn down free money? The economic pain of green cronyism cuts deeper than wasted taxpayer money. When Washington steers money to — or away from — “favored” businesses or technologies, private-sector investment follow. This not only stifles competition and innovation, it also centralizes control in the hands of politicians, elites and lobbyists.