Let’s not pretend that the Green New Deal or anything like it could possibly be implemented without putting the government in charge of the economy.

Yeah, you keep repeating that, but you still haven’t elaborated on why you think so, other than to state that the goals are unrealistic. Heck, you haven’t even explained why the government taking over the economy would somehow help them accomplish these goals any better.

I contend that it wouldn’t.

Left unregulated, capitalism leads to rampant exploitation — of workers, of consumers, of the environment. So that’s why progressives complain about capitalism. But the solution isn’t to abandon it, because capitalism is the only viable system. The solution is regulation.

Capitalism is competition. Competition drives innovation and lowers production costs. And there’s nothing the Green New Deal needs more than innovation. It can’t succeed without it.

For instance, precisely how would it be possible to make all buildings and homes in this country “as energy efficient as possible”?

It’s an initiative that was already started under Obama as a part of his American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Here’s a list of the plan’s energy efficiency efforts.

Among other things, it included a push toward energy efficient lightbulbs (which Trump is now for some reason trying to undo) as well as rebates for people who upgraded their homes with newer model windows that would better retain heat in the winter and cool air in the summer, as well as a mandate that all new commercial buildings would have to meet certain efficiency standards.

The Green New Deal would just be doubling down on things like that. No seizing of the economy necessary.