Checks and Balance: The switch
Checks and Balance from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2021
⏱️ 46 minutes
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Summary
Plans to overhaul American energy will soon come before Congress. There will never be a better chance for Joe Biden to show real ambition on climate. If the blackouts in Texas are any guide, it would not just be the world that thanks him, but Americans, too. But the politics of greening America are never easy. What might the new president get done?
We hear from John Kerry, Mr Biden’s climate envoy, Varshini Prakash of Sunrise, a movement of young climate activists who helped get the new president elected, and from West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, whose vote will be crucial in passing new laws.
John Prideaux, our US editor, hosts with New York bureau chief Charlotte Howard, and Jon Fasman, US digital editor.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The F-150 truck has been America's best-selling vehicle since the early Reagan era. |
| 0:10.6 | The Ford engine's deep growl remains as evocative as one of the actor president's famous |
| 0:15.5 | one-liners. |
| 0:16.5 | It's also thirsty, of course, it gets half the miles per gallon of the top-selling |
| 0:20.9 | cars in China and Europe. |
| 0:23.8 | America's affection for trucks began in the post-war period when car makers adapted military |
| 0:28.1 | assembly lines for commercial use. |
| 0:30.7 | To capture a growing suburban clientele, Ford refurbished the cabin of its F-series to include |
| 0:35.9 | handsome upholstery, sun visors, and an ash tray. |
| 0:40.4 | But Ford is no longer America's most valuable automotive company. |
| 0:44.2 | Tesla, the electric car maker, is now worth more than the big three Detroit firms combined. |
| 0:50.8 | Last year, Ford unveiled an all-electric F-150. |
| 0:54.4 | In the promotional video, the company's chief engineer, Linda Zhang, invites skeptical |
| 0:58.8 | Ford super fans to watch it in action. |
| 1:01.8 | The prototype tows ten double-decker railway cars. |
| 1:05.3 | The engine remains inaudible. |
| 1:08.4 | Can Joe Biden convince the rest of America it could be this easy being green? |
| 1:13.7 | This is Chex and Balance. |
| 1:16.2 | I'm John Frodo, the economist's US editor. |
| 1:21.7 | Each week, we take one big theme, shaping American politics and explore it in depth. |
| 1:31.7 | Today, can America decarbonize fast enough? |
| 1:45.5 | Power cuts across Texas this week have exposed a crumbling energy infrastructure. |
... |
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