Necessary outcomes from the hurricanes

Last week I wrote about how Americans came together, both the private and the public sectors, to help those whose lives were devastated in Texas and Louisiana by Hurricane Harvey. It was an impressive response to the catastrophe.

I wrote too soon.

I didn’t know Hurricane Irma would follow a few days later, bringing even greater disaster, this time to Caribbean islands, and to Florida and other southeastern coastal states.

Once again the response has been overwhelming, with thousands of volunteers and millions and millions of dollars forthcoming, as well as billions of dollars’ worth of government aid.

But there’s no chance that every victim will be made whole. Several dozen people lost their lives in the storms. Hundreds of thousands are now homeless. Damage estimates range close to $300 billion.

That’s a third of a trillion dollars.

It’s hard to comprehend the extent of the damage, and how long it will take to make those areas livable once more.

There are at least a couple of outcomes from the back-to-back hurricanes that should be evident.

FIRST: It’s time to put a stop to political games about climate change.

Policy-makers need to focus on what science has learned about the effects of emissions from carbon combustion — oil, coal, natural gas and other similar fuels.

Congressional committees should hold hearings with testimony from scientists widely recognized for their expertise.    

Elected federal officials are smart enough to understand the basics of climate science. Most of them took at least some science in high school, and most of them also have at least some years of college education.

“I’m not a scientist” is not an excuse. You don’t have to be a scientist to comprehend statistical data over the past century about global atmospheric warming or glacial melting.

We don’t need buy-in from every member of Congress. Holdouts should take their chances with the electorate after a widespread educational push throughout the nation.

If climate change deniers have legitimate theories and alternative data, they should roll them out and let folks who believe in the scientific method have a shot at them. The American public needs a chance to evaluate both sides.

And the voters need to pay attention. Future victims of increasingly stronger hurricanes deserve our best thinking on this subject.

If you still insist human-caused climate change is false, at least you can understand that there are things humans can do to improve the situation.

China announced this week that it’s following France’s lead and intends to end production of fossil fuel vehicles.

It’s possible that a doubleheader like Harvey and Irma is just a coincidence. But I doubt it, and my guess is that more and more people are coming to doubt it too.

SECOND: With a third of a trillion dollars of damage to property in at least half a dozen Southern states, tax “reform” (read: tax reduction) should be deep-sixed, at least for now.

The nation is about $20 trillion in debt. It’s a sign of the depth of our financial hole when a decline in the annual federal deficit to $400 or $500 billion is considered an accomplishment.

Millions of people need billions of dollars of help now. That’s in addition to the 12 percent of Americans — about 40 million folks — who already lived in poverty before the recent hurricanes.

It’s grotesque for Congress to be considering cutting tax revenues in the face of such need, and then going ever deeper in debt to finance the recovery.

The American economy is doing just fine with the present tax structure. The stock markets are at all-time highs. Unemployment is down around 4½ percent or so. Real wages are finally starting to rise. Corporate profits are in double digits.

There are imbalances among economic, demographic and economic sectors, but that’s not what the congressional majority and the administration are most concerned about.     

What they hope to do, above all, is cut taxes for the well-to-do.

They’re willing to approve small cuts in tax rates for the middle class if that’s necessary to get enough votes for the package, but the big enchilada is tax reduction for the rich.

The gap between rich and poor has widened dramatically in the United States in the past 25 years. The last thing we need is a tax policy that makes that gap even greater.

And to do it now, with crushing devastation affecting millions of unfortunate Americans, is unforgivable.

Iowa’s congressional delegation needs to demonstrate what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature,” and put hurricane victims ahead of making the already comfortable even more comfortable.