June 3, 2017

This is the way every one of these right wing liars ought to be treated when they're allowed on the air: ‘This is corruption!’: Economist goes on full attack of Trumpster Stephen Moore’s ties to the Koch Brothers:

Economist Jeff Sachs was furious with President Donald Trump and the White House’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. In a panel discussion on CNN Friday, Sachs went off on everyone, including Trump’s economic advisor Steve Moore and the conservative funders Charles and David Koch.

Here's more on the exchange via CNN:

CABRERA: I want to bring in Stephen Moore. He's our senior economic analyst for CNN, also a Trump supporter. You also were an adviser of the president during the campaign. Stephen Moore, why can't his administration answer the question - the fundamental question about whether or not this president believes climate change is real?

STEPHEN MOORE, CNN SENIOR ECONOMIC ANALYST: I don't know the answer to that. But I will say this, that I think it's not fair to say that President Trump took this action for political reasons. Now, yes, he did promise this during the campaign. It was a very popular campaign pledge. And traveled around with then candidate Trump and when he talked about getting us out of the Paris Accord in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan, it was -

CABRERA: Should they be able to answer the question, though, about climate change? That is what this is all about, is it not?

MOORE: Well, but, hold on. I don't know what his belief is on this, but I'll say this, it's - the fundamental issue here was - is, how is this going to affect our economy? We've done some really amazing research at The Heritage Foundation. A number of other studies that put the job losses between 500,000 and a million. We can't afford to do that. We have too many unemployed people in this country right now. We've got to make sure that we're protecting the jobs of our own gas workers, our steel workers, our coal workers. We just had a good report, by the way, today that there was an increase in mining jobs. So we're seeing a turnaround in the coal industry. Something a lot of people said couldn't happen.

CABRERA: That's right, 400 mining jobs were added in the last month according to that jobs report today.

MOORE: Yes. And coal -

CABRERA: But also worth noting that the steel worker in - union from the steel workers actually came out yesterday speaking out against this move. We've also heard a backlash from a lot of different companies saying this was the wrong way to go economically.

MOORE: Wait - sorry, did you say that - I just want to make -

CABRERA: Go ahead.

MOORE: Did you say that the steel worker union came out against it?

CABRERA: A steel worker union came out against it.

MOORE: OK. Because I've talked to a lot of the steel workers and they are dead set against this because they know their jobs are very much in jeopardy.

CABRERA: Absolutely. No, I think - I think that is a controversial point.

Let me bring in, Jeffrey Sachs, because I know you have a different opinion on the economic side of things. Jeffrey.

JEFFREY SACHS, DIR. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: It's just unbelievable. Every word has been a lie for the last two days. So much ignorance and you have Stephen Moore and he is from the Heritage Foundation paid for by the Koch brothers that have engineered the whole story here. So it's just endless big money of the Koch brothers is behind this and Mr. Moore and his Heritage Foundation are - is a Koch brothers financed operation and this is corruption and it's so clear and it's disgusting after a while because they're all lying.

CABRERA: Jeffrey, this study was the National Economic Research Associates study that Stephen was just citing that we've heard from the Trump administration.

SACHS: Yes.

CABRERA: Why do you not believe that's a credible source?

SACHS: There are about 20,000 coal miners in this country out of 150 million people. This is so bogus, it's unbelievable. Everything that Trump has said is bogus. Every - the idea that he's given to the American people that somehow this is an agreement that is against America, that's biased against America, this is a completely symmetrical agreement in which all 193 countries have agreed to the same thing. They have agreed to submit national plans of action under a common framework. And so it's all a lie.

And the important things for your viewers to understand is, this is the future of their children and their grandchildren. And this man is wrecking the planet. And it's because of the oil, gas and coal interests -

CABRERA: Let me give you -

SACHS: That have funded - that have funded the Heritage Foundation, that have funded Stephen Moore and that have funded the 22 senators that wrote to the president last week saying to do this. This is a game. And it's a game against my children and my grandchildren and it's disgusting.

CABRERA: Stephen, I'll give you a chance to respond.

MOORE: Well, Jeff just needs to get his facts straight. We get less than 3 percent of our budget from the Kochs. So, Jeff, I don't know where you're getting your facts from, but what you just said is a lie.

SACHS: I know where I'm getting my facts from. You're on the take.

MOORE: Yes, well, we don't - we - right. Now, one of the points I think needs to be made here is that there's a climate change industrial complex that - this is a - this is a multibillion dollar movement now that, you know, Elon Musk, why is Elon Musk against us pulling out? Guess what, Elon Musk's two major businesses sold (ph) a city (ph) -

SACHS: And the Koch brothers are $100 billion, Stephen Moore, and you know it.

MOORE: Yes, but my point is that - yes, but the Koch - Koch brothers don't get any government money, Jeff, and Elon Musk gets $4.9 billion.

SACHS: The Koch brothers - the Koch brothers finance the Republican Party in the Congress, they finance the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute -

MOORE: Yes, but they don't get any government money.

SACHS: The Cato Institute. We have been taken over and you have been taken over.

MOORE: I don't work at the Cato Institute.

SACHS: And I'm shocked that you are a correspondent for this network.

MOORE: But, by the way, I was on a couple weeks ago with Jeff Sachs and he said that the coal mining industry was dead. And we've seen a 16 percent increase just since Donald Trump was elected and we have more coal jobs today. So you're just wrong, Jeff.

CABRERA: OK, let me move the conversation forward here. I want to put in an opportunity to get our other analysts into the conversation.

Sourcewatch has more on the Heritage Foundation and their funding here.

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