JP Morgan Chase Research, in their preface to their study on the economic effects of Hurricane Harvey on Texas in 2017, said words to the effect of "natural disasters are terrible for the economy but great for GDP." Their argument - and the fact that they have to make this argument says a lot about capitalism as practiced currently - was that the wholesale destruction of existing goods is obviously terrible for the human beings within capitalism but that the need to replace everything that had been destroyed was great for sales.

I am really coming around to the idea that the externalization of "human beings within capitalism" is the original sin of modern American capitalism and that it is not a Democratic viewpoint, not a Republican viewpoint but a human viewpoint that the economic system should work for the bulk of the people subject to it. The Republican argument for renewables is "energy independence" "jobs for the heartland" and "exportable technology." The Republican argument for environmental protectionism is "keeps farming jobs from moving to Canada." The Republican argument for immigration is "weakens our adversaries by siphoning off their best, brightest and most motivated."

I think the core issue of the American Right is they're entirely beholden to a populist ideology (white christian males over all in all things) in order to get the votes to support an oligarchic business strategy (all proceeds to the 1%). It was never going to work forever, it was always going to end in a messy messy way, everyone just kicked the can down the road in hopes they'd be out of office before it exploded.

It exploded Jan 6 2021, and now we get to see what the cleanup looks like.