Horowitz: 5 Reasons for New Year’s Optimism
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
For the past two years, I’ve written a New Year’s column listing reasons for optimism. This year I did the same. It remains the nature of news and opinion writing that positive developments get short shrift. As 2015 nears, 5 reasons for optimism are outlined below:
1) The economy moves into high gear: The economy grew at an annual rate of 5% over the summer-the fastest rate of growth in more than 10 years, according to the New York Times. Even better, wages—long stagnant-are beginning to tick up and people’s perceptions of the economy are beginning to catch up with this new reality. Going forward, economists are predicting a year of solid economic growth ahead.
2) A major breakthrough on climate change: As a result of a preliminary agreement reached recently in Lima, Peru, all the nations of the world, will be submitting plans to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by this March. This sets for the stage for a consequential final agreement to be signed in Paris this coming year. This major breakthrough was made possible by a pact between the world’s two largest carbon emitters, the United States and China, announced this past Fall, in which for the first time ever China agreed to cap and then begin to lower their emissions. Up to that point, China and other developing nations had resisted setting a goal of lowering emissions, saying it was up to the United States and the rest of the developed world that created the problem to solve it
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3) We continue to move towards energy independence with energy efficiency as a big piece of the puzzle: The recent big drop in world oil prices reflects a positive trend in the United States towards energy independence, making us less reliant on Middle Eastern and Russian oil. While a step-up in domestic natural gas production is a major reason for this development, another central cause is our increased energy efficiency. As the National Resources Defense Council states, “Efficiency remains America’s largest and most productive energy resource. The amount of energy required to produce an inflation-adjusted dollar of economic output dropped by almost 60 percent between 1970 and 2013, thanks to efficiency.”
4) Unified control of Congress results in more constructive governance: With Republicans now in control of both Houses of Congress, their new political imperative will be building a record of accomplishments. It will no longer be enough to simply block the President’s agenda and both incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) recognize this fact. Achieving legislative results can only be accomplished by working with the President since he will not be reluctant to use his veto power. This paves the way for constructive governance and the potential to reach agreements on areas where there is common ground, such as funding infrastructure improvements.
5) Obamacare becomes a permanent fact of life: With the early returns pointing the way to another robust year of sign-ups, Obamacare is becoming a permanent fact of life. This is good news because it moves the nation towards the goal of universal coverage, providing more Americans with access to affordable, quality health care.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
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