Latin America faces unprecedented dengue outbreak

Brunna Machado

An outbreak of dengue fever has hit Brazil and several other Latin American countries and is expected to make 2024 the year with the highest number of cases and deaths in the region’s history. Extreme climatic phenomena, precarious socio-economic conditions and the abandonment of both preventive measures and the fight against the transmitting mosquito, Aedes aegypti, have contributed to its spreading to areas previously free of the virus, making dengue an increasingly urgent public health issue in the region and worldwide.

Patients in the Pediatrics ward at the Ceilândia Field Hospital, in the Federal District, on February 8, 2024 [Photo: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/Agência Brasil]

The latest report from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) on the epidemiological situation in the Americas cites dengue cases in 18 countries in the region, the most affected being Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Colombia. According to the report, the incidence of dengue increased by 249 percent compared to last year, and by 354 percent compared to the average of the last five years. This data, however, only covers the first eight epidemiological weeks, and the situation has only worsened since.

By mid-March of this year, the number of dengue cases in Paraguay was 23 times higher than in the same period last year, rising from 6,900 cases to 160,900. In the same comparison, Argentina saw a jump from 8,300 to 102,800 cases, and Peru from 16,900 to 46,500. In these countries, 43, 69, and 53 deaths have already been recorded this year, respectively.

Brazil, the primary source of infection, has registered more than 2 million probable cases on its own, and the Ministry of Health estimates that it will exceed 4.2 million by the end of the year, almost triple last year’s figure. As of March 23, 715 deaths had already been confirmed, and another 1,078 are under investigation.

Total number of suspected dengue cases as of the eighth Epidemiological Week in 2024 and 2023 and average of the last five years. Region of the Americas. [Photo: Graphic: WHO]

On March 13, the health minister of the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers Party – PT), Nísia Trindade, downplayed the seriousness of the dengue epidemic in the country, writing in a social media post, “The lethality rate, at 0.3 percent of cases, is still less than half of last year (0.7 percent).” She added: “We are taking better care of the cases.”

In an interview with the daily Folha de São Paulo, epidemiologist Wanderson de Oliveira explained that several factors influence this apparently lower lethality rate: “Mild cases that may go unreported, difficulty in accessing treatment, and the quality of the health system can lead to a false impression that the disease is less serious than it really is.”

He continued: “At the moment, the priority should be to set up a task force to investigate the deaths and understand whether the causes of these deaths were due to the characteristics of the people or the quality of the services provided. This post [Trindade’s] was very unfortunate because it is cold and gives the impression that it is about numbers. For those who have lost a loved one, the lethality rate is 100 percent.”

The minister’s data for the comparison is still being analyzed. If the lethality rate for 2024 were calculated, including the deaths under investigation, the rate would be higher than in 2023.

The minister’s attempt to downplay an unprecedented outbreak of dengue fever  exposes not only the government’s “coldness” about the fatalities, but also its relation to the consequences of such a high incidence in the population and the suffering caused by the disease, which has been popularly called “bone-breaking fever,” due to the most well-known symptoms: severe headaches, backaches, along with muscle pain in the legs and joints.

When it progresses to a severe condition, dengue risks liver damage and bleeding. Another consequence that is still little known and, of course, never mentioned by government officials, are the neurological effects, which can manifest even in asymptomatic patients and appear long after infection.

In an interview with the podcast O Assunto, neurologist and scientist Marzia Puccioni said that between one percent and 20 percent of dengue patients can develop encephalitis, myelitis, meningitis, and even Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that attacks part of the nervous system.

Given the estimate of 4.2 million cases by the end of the year, 840,000 Brazilians could develop some neurological problem caused by the dengue virus. And there is no planning on the part of the health system to care for these future patients, quite the opposite.

The abandonment of the eradication policy 

The uncontrolled situation that is leading thousands of people to their deaths was not inevitable. It has been known for decades that dengue prevention and control depend on effective vector control measures.

The primary vector in the Americas is Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that lives in and near homes and breeds in any artificial or natural container holding standing water. The combination of high temperatures and rainfall favors an increase in the Aedes aegypti population. On this basis, representatives of the ruling class – including the WHO itself – have attributed the unprecedented rise in the disease to the El Niño phenomenon and global warming.

But none of this happened overnight. The climatic phenomena and the precarious conditions in which most of the region’s population lives favor the proliferation of the mosquito. They are as well known and predictable as they are ignored by the capitalist class. The truth is that the ruling class—similar to what we saw with the COVID-19 virus—abandoned any attempt to eradicate the dengue virus years ago.

Brazil itself once provided a historic example of eradication, a fundamental and long-standing principle used by medical science to combat countless infectious diseases.

Zoonosis team doing fieldwork to combat dengue outbreaks in neighborhoods of Osasco, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, on 15/03/2024. [Photo: Paulo Pinto/Agência Brasil]

A campaign at the beginning of the 20th century against yellow fever, which is also transmitted by Aedes aegypti, allowed successive Brazilian governments to control the proliferation of the mosquito through massive action by sanitary agents. In 1954, when the vector eradication program was resumed, the Report of the National Yellow Fever Service referred to this work as “the most useful and revolutionary of the techniques ever introduced in anti-Aedes aegypti campaigns (...).”

By 1955, the mosquito had been eradicated in the country. This policy was accompanied by an effort by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) to eliminate it from other American countries, but the campaign did not come to an end. 

The reintroduction of Aedes egypti in Brazil and other countries in the region—this time bringing dengue and other arboviruses—coincided with the rise of US-backed military dictatorships in South America, which unleashed a massive attack on working class living standards and the region’s public health services.

Today, according to the WHO, the Region of the Americas accounts for 80 percent of dengue cases and has seen an increase in cases over the last four decades, rising from 1.5 million in the 1980s to 16.2 million in the 2010-2019 decade. The year 2023 broke the record with 4,565,911 cases, including 7,653 (0.17 percent) severe cases and 2,340 deaths (case fatality rate of 0.051 percent). In 2024, the scenario is already looking much more deadly.

Brazil, which a few decades ago could eradicate the vector, today registers cases of the disease in all of its 27 federal units, making its territory of eight million square kilometers the most extensive breeding ground for Aedes aegypti on the planet.

The capitalist system as an obstacle to universal healthcare

Some significant advances have been made in the last decade to combat dengue, such as the Wolbachia method, which consists of introducing mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacteria into the environment, and the recently created QDenga vaccine. However, both are still in their initial application phase and have little production capacity. In addition, they are only effective in the long term, working in conjunction with the vector control actions that have been carried out for more than 70 years in Brazil.

However, after all this time, instead of increasing such action, what we have seen is a reduction over the last few years. Last year, President Lula sanctioned a spending ceiling that allowed for a reduction of almost 20 billion reais ($4 billion) in health funding.

According to the daily Metrópoles, the Federal District, the federal unit with the highest incidence today, has failed to invest R$241 million in the prevention of arboviruses over the last 10 years, losing 36.7 percent of the workforce responsible for combating mosquito outbreaks. A Federal Court of Auditors survey, published by TV Globo’s Profissão Repórter show, revealed that the proportion of health agents is only one for every 2,000 inhabitants. The Ministry of Health recommends six agents for every 2,000 inhabitants.

Top Boeing executives announce early retirements as questions over whistleblower "suicide" remain unanswered

Jacob Crosse

On Monday, the Boeing corporation announced that several top executives in the company, including the current CEO and the head of the commercial planes division, would be retiring early as a major crisis at the airline manufacturer and military contractor continues to mount.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator examines section of missing panel on a Boeing 737-9 MAX in Portland, Ore that blew off the jetliner in midflight. [AP Photo/National Transportation Safety Board]

Among those retiring will be Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, who will remain in the position until the end of the year. It appears Calhoun’s departure was not planned. The New York Times reported that in 2021 the Boeing board raised the retirement age for its CEO to 70 from 65, which would have allowed Calhoun, 66, to remain in the position until April 2028.

Stan Deal, the president of the commercial planes division, also announced his early retirement. Boeing has confirmed that Stephanie Pope, previously the president and chief executive officer of Boeing Global Services, would be replacing Deal.

Finally, Larry Kellner, the chair of the board of directors, announced he would not stand for reelection at the annual shareholder meeting set for this May.

In Kellner’s stead, Boeing announced that Steve Mollenkopf, the former CEO of Qualcomm, will be appointed the new chair at the next shareholder meeting. Mollenkopf, per Boeing, “will lead the board’s process in selecting Boeing’s next CEO.”

In addition to Boeing, Mollenkopf still holds a high level position with Qualcomm, is a board member of the US-China Business Council, and has previously held top positions with the Global Semiconductor Alliance and the Semiconductor Industry Association.

The forced retirement of high-level Boeing executives comes after the deadly Boeing Max 737 crashes in 2018 and 2019, which killed 346 people, and several major incidents this year that have left millions of people, including the heads of airlines, wary of ever riding, or purchasing, a Boeing aircraft again.

This includes the Alaska Airlines panel blowout in January, the Chile-based LATAM Airlines nosedive earlier this month, and the suspicious death of whistleblower John Barnett on March 9.

In this March 11, 2019, file photo, Boeing 737 Max wreckage is piled at the crash scene of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 near Bishoftu, Ethiopia. [AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene]

The death of Barnett, an over 30-year employee of the company, in a purported suicide, has particularly sinister implications. Barnett was in the middle of giving damning testimony in a civil lawsuit alleging Boeing forced him to retire early for refusing to compromise on safety and quality, when he was found dead in hotel parking lot in South Carolina.

In his lawsuit and testimony, Barnett alleged that “upper management” at Boeing “harassed, denigrated, humiliated, and treated” him “with scorn and contempt” for refusing to compromise his integrity. Barnett asserted that upper management not only wanted him to operate in a “gray area,” and not follow Boeing procedures, but to also ignore federal criminal statutes.

The Boeing executives who announced their retirement on Monday, and their replacements, all held “upper management” positions within the company during the years Barnett alleged rampant criminality on the part of Boeing.

In a letter to employees Monday, outgoing CEO Calhoun admitted that the “Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident was a watershed moment for Boeing.” A preliminary investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the four bolts that were supposed to keep the panel locked in mid-flight, were not installed, leading to the blowout and emergency landing on January 5.

Just three days before Calhoun announced his abrupt retirement, the New York Times reported that the FBI had sent letters to passengers on Flight 1282 making them aware that they may have been “a possible victim of a crime.” The Times said the letters were sent from the Seattle FBI office. The letters indicated that while the incident remains under investigation, “for several reasons, we cannot tell you about its progress at this time.”

Boeing has confirmed to the NTSB that the bolts on the Alaska Airline were removed at their facility in Renton, Washington, after being transported there for final assembly last August. However, the airline has not been able to provide any documentation to the NTSB as to who removed the bolts, or why they were not reinstalled.

On Monday, Fortune reported that outgoing CEO Calhoun will retire with a “$24 million payday” but could collect “about $45.5 million” if Pope, (Deal’s replacement) “can boost the stock price nearly 37 percent.”

Ben Silverman of Verity, a firm that researches and analyzes insider stock sales, told Fortune that Calhoun could collect $4.8 million as early as February 2027, followed by $14.4 million spread out over the next 10 years. Fortune estimated that Calhoun collected $22.4 million in 2023, “including $8.5 million in options, $9.5 million in stock and $3.4 million in an annual cash bonus.”

When Calhoun was elected as president and CEO of Boeing in December 2019, the board included language that would boost Calhoun’s salary by millions of dollars if he could get the 737 MAX plane in the air, and production lines churning again.

While Calhoun is leaving with a golden parachute, Fortune noted his millions were a “far cry” from that showered on previous CEO Dennis Muilenburg who, despite being fired, still collected $80 million. Calhoun replaced Muilenburg following the 2018 and 2019 crashes.

No Boeing executives were ever charged in the deaths of the nearly 350 people killed in those disasters; instead the US Department of Justice levied a $2.5 billion fine against the company, which is $500 million less than the company spent buying back its own stock in March 2018.

Since its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas, and before grounding the MAX in March 2019, Boeing spent more than $60 billion in stock buybacks. A majority of these buybacks occurred between 2013 and 2019, with Boeing spending $43.5 billion on buybacks in just those six years.

Biden’s budget for world war

Patrick Martin

The budget legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden on Saturday provides the largest amount in history for US military spending. Of the $1.2 trillion appropriated to six federal departments, the Pentagon claimed more than two thirds, about $825 billion. The separate budget bill signed by Biden March 8, for the other six federal departments, includes $23.8 billion for the US nuclear weapons programs run by the Department of Energy.

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the fast combat support ship USNS Supply transit the Strait of Hormuz, Dec. 14, 2023. [Photo: Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Keith Nowak]

All told, when all other monies appropriated for military-intelligence operations through other departments and agencies are tallied, the cumulative total is likely to surpass $1 trillion, although the actual figure remains secret, since much of the military-related spending on surveillance, military satellite launches, and other operations is classified.

Total US military spending, even based on the publicly available figures, dwarfs that of any possible combination of countries. The US alone accounts for 39 percent of total world military spending, equivalent to that of the next 11 countries combined. Compared to the US total of $877 billion for 2022, the last year for which comprehensive global figures are available, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that China spent $292 billion and Russia $86.4 billion. 

Russian military spending is a fraction of the combined spending by US NATO allies, more than $300 billion, by the US Asian allies in the so-called Quad (India, Japan and Australia, $160 billion combined), and by US client states in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar and the UAE, $130 billion combined). The combined military spending of the US and its major allies comes to well over $1.5 trillion, two-thirds of the world total, and four times that of Russia and China.

Given these figures, there is no way to assess the American military posture as anything short of a program for world war. 

American imperialism has suffered a protracted historical decline in its economic position. From nearly 50 percent of world GDP at the end of the Second World War, the US fell to 40 percent by 1960 and 27 percent by 1971, when President Richard Nixon ended dollar convertibility into gold because of the rising balance of payments deficit. The US share fell to barely 15 percent of world GDP last year, with the expectation of a further decline in coming years.

But in the production of war materiel, of the weapons that can destroy human life both with pinpoint accuracy and by the millions, the United States has no peer.

This contradiction, between declining economic base and massive military buildup, explains the ferocity of American foreign policy. It is expressed in the unanimity of the two main capitalist parties, Democrats and Republicans, on the need to smash the growing threat of China—whose economy is on course to outstrip that of the United States—and subjugate China’s potential allies in Russia, Iran and North Korea. As far as Wall Street and Washington are concerned, they must provoke confrontation with China as soon as possible, because the fundamental trends are against them. They have no time to lose.

The incessant claims by the Biden administration and its apologists in the corporate media, that the US government is averse to the use of military force, or seeks to prevent the expansion of the conflict in Ukraine or to restrain Israeli genocide in Gaza, do not bear up to the slightest scrutiny.

The true savagery of US imperialism is demonstrated in one key provision of the just-passed Pentagon budget. Democrats and Republicans in Congress agreed to bar a single penny of US aid for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which feeds millions of Palestinian refugees daily, including the bulk of the 2.3 million people in Gaza. Whatever the election-year mudslinging between Biden and Donald Trump, both the Democrats and Republicans are united in supporting mass starvation as a weapon of war.

The Hidden Genocide in Ethiopia

Graham Peebles

Image by Jack Prommel.

The Ethiopia of Abiy Ahmed and his Prosperity Party, is a dark and frightening place, where anyone challenging the government are at risk of violence and arrest.

People from the Amhara ethnic group are particularly targeted; killing of Amhara men, women and children is a daily occurrence in what constitutes a genocidal campaign of hate

Uniformed thugs, federal and regional, as well as Oromo militia (Oromo Liberation Army or Shene), carry out the killings. Drones hover in the skies; faceless messengers of death used to slaughter Amhara civilians in the streets as they go about their daily lives.

A suffocating shadow of fear hangs heavy over Amhara people, in villages, towns and cities. Fear of being identified as Amhara, fear of imprisonment for being Amhara or speaking out about the Amhara genocide. Fear that family members and friends will be murdered, their wives or sisters raped, their homes taken from them or ransacked.

Stop killing Amhara civilians is the desperate cry of rational peace loving Ethiopians throughout the country and abroad; end the discrimination, the persecution and unlawful arrests, the spying and monitoring. Stop the Amhara genocide Abiy Ahmed.

Homeless and scared

In the five years since Abiy and Co. came to power tens of thousands of Amhara have been killed and millions displaced from Oromia, the largest region in the country; their land, property and cattle stolen by Oromo extremists.

And now these people, many of whom have either been the victim of violence or witnessed the killing of family members and friends, are the subjects of a forced relocation programme. Pushed to return to the very places they were evicted from. Towns and villages that are unsafe, where the armed gangs that attacked them are still at large, and where no alternative accommodation is being offered.

At best this is a chaotic plan by an inept regime attempting to present a fiction of regional safety, at worst it is a deliberate act by a brutal dictator to force people back into harms way.

In addition to murder and forced displacement, a mass programme of unlawful arrests of Amhara people as well as Oromo opposition supporters is in place. Hundreds of thousands of Amhara have been arrested, with many inmates being executed. The prisons are full to overflowing, leading to detainees being located in unknown semi-industrial units, where there are reports of captives being injected with highly contagious fatal diseases and left to die.

Ethnic profiling by government bodies is widespread and highlights the fact that individuals are targeted based on ethnicity, beliefs, and opposition to the Amhara genocide.

Internet access is closely monitored, social media accounts are scrutinised; arbitrary stop and search operations are in force; mobile phones are searched, and as The International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) found, any images discovered of historical Amhara figures or national flags bereft of stars arouses suspicion and potential arrest.

Leave them defenceless

After being subjected to ethnic based violence for years, in April 2023 the federal government announced unconstitutional plans to disband the only force protecting Amhara communities, the Amhara Special Forces (ASF). This triggered huge protests throughout the region. Abiy sent in the Federal Army (ENDF) and fighting erupted between the ENDF and Fano, a regional militia made up of poorly armed, but determined volunteers, together with ex members of the ASF.

Indiscriminate killing of Amhara civilians by ENDF forces exploded. In a recent report, Amnesty International (AI) documented serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) by the ENDF, which they say, “may amount to war crimes.” Amnesty highlight examples of extrajudicial killing of Amhara civilians by ENDF troops in Abune Hara, Lideta and Sebatamit, and acknowledge that these are but the tip of an iceberg of death and intimidation.

Unable to overcome the Fano and unwilling to withdraw and reinstate the ASF, a State of Emergency (SoE) was imposed in the Amhara region on 5 August 2023.

The shadowy declaration gives the government far reaching powers to arrest/imprison people without due process, impose curfews, ban the right to assembly and search property without a warrant. Draconian powers that the government has employed widely and indiscriminately. Violence and unlawful arrests against Amhara people have increased exponentially.

In its six monthly report the Amhara Association of America (AAA) document, 1606 deaths, and injuries to 824 Amhara civilians (August – February 2024); 37 drone attacks, resulting in 333 civilians killed; Rape of at least 210 young girls and women; Mass arrest of over 10,000 ethnic Amharas……with detainees facing physical and psychological torture”. These numbers according to AAA, shocking as they are, represent a small fraction of the total killed, raped and arrested.

Despite overwhelming evidence of killings, mass arrests and executions, on 6 February PM Abiy Ahmed told parliament that, “since we think along democratic lines, it is hard for us to even arrest anyone, let alone execute them.” A sick joke perhaps? Either Abiy is completely deluded and actually believes his own propaganda, or he is an habitual liar — probably both.

Hope killed

Swept along by a belief that change could come about, in 2018 when Abiy and his cohorts took office there was tremendous optimism in the country. That hope soon evaporated as it became clear that the new regime was no different to the previous mob – the EPRDF, in fact many believe they are worse.

The ruling Prosperity Party is a dictatorship led as they all seem to be, by a narcissist, under the guise of a democratically elected coalition government. Contrary to his liberal eulogising and pre-election pledges to respond to historical grievances and ethnic discrimination, Abiy has emboldened extremists and fueled division and hatred.

Not only is the county fractured as never before, as a result of Abiy’s arrogance and misjudgments, Ethiopia is increasingly isolated within the Horn of Africa and the wider region.

Among the international community and mainstream media, there is little or no interest in the fractured state of the country. For almost thirty years western nations turned a blind eye to EPRDF suppression and violence, and now, despite the human rights reports, the UN warnings and calls for action, despite the suffering and pain of millions of people, the pattern of neglect and apathy continues.

Why are these people ignored? They are poor, black and African, this, many suspect, is the reason for global indifference.

Imagine for a moment that such atrocities were taking place in Europe say, or the US. There would rightly be outrage and immediate action. And there should be the same response to the Amhara genocide taking place in Ethiopia. Action that impacts Abiy and his government directly; targeted sanctions applied by the US and allies, as well as international institutions to directly hurt the men in power.

Dictators like Abiy, and the world is littered with such monsters, do not suddenly curb their behavior and embrace justice and democracy, they must be forced to do so.

Here’s Why You Can’t Afford an Electric Car

Sonali Kolhatkar

Cybertruck, Tesla.

It seems that there has never been a better time than now to buy an electric vehicle in the United States, especially if you read news headlines and White House press releases. You might be forgiven for thinking that you can actually afford to upgrade your old gas-guzzling sedan with a sleek, new zero-emissions EV. And if you can’t afford one, the various local, state, and federal rebate programs will surely knock thousands off the price tag, right?

Wrong. In order to be able to qualify for the ever-changing and complicated federal $7,500 rebate on EVs, one has to be rich enough to be able to afford to buy a new EV (some used ones qualify but good luck figuring out which one, and then even better luck finding such a car available for purchase). But, in order to qualify for the rebate, one can’t be too rich. If you’re middle-income, like me, you can lease an EV, but then you don’t qualify for the rebate—your leasing company does—and you’re left paying a hefty monthly lease.

News headlines about Tesla slashing its EV prices might still convince you that a new EV is within reach—that is if you don’t mind enriching one of the worst humans on the planet. But Teslas are still among the more expensive cars on the market.

Meanwhile, there are sensationalist headlines about EV sales falling over the past year, so much so that one might be forgiven for thinking that maybe most people wanting an EV already purchased one and demand is simply weakening. Dig past the headlines however, and the news reports all come to the same conclusion: EVs are still unaffordable for the majority of Americans, especially those who simply want to reduce their carbon footprint and their financial expenses at the same time. “Pricing is still very much the biggest barrier to electric vehicles,” according to one research analyst.

A Los Angeles Times report agreed: “Although the cost of building EVs continues to drop, it has yet to reach price parity with conventional gasoline-powered vehicles.” But the paper then bizarrely blamed Americans for the high price tags, saying, “Americans’ preference for larger vehicles necessitates larger, heavier and costlier battery packs, contributing to the high prices.” There was no mention of auto manufacturers spending years aggressively marketing SUVs and other giant gas guzzlers to Americans. Indeed, there is a whole range of EV trucks on the market right now—still out of the grasp of ordinary middle-income Americans looking for an efficient commuter family car.

Too bad these consumers don’t have access to China’s new EV, the BYD Seagull, a car that test drivers in the U.S. are gushing over, and whose price tag begins at a mere $9,698. “That undercuts the average price of an American EV by more than $50,000,” explained Bloomberg. In fact, more than 70 percent of all EVs sold globally are Chinese manufactured. You don’t have to live in China to buy a Chinese EV. You just have to live outside the U.S.

What most headlines aren’t saying overtly and what the Biden administration is also keeping relatively quiet about is that the U.S. is engaging in a fiercely protectionist trade war with China in order to shield American automakers. Forget the TikTok war—it’s Chinese-made EVs that keep U.S. auto CEOs up at night.

To protect them, the Biden administration is fanning the flames of anti-China sentiment and claiming it is worried about “National Security Concerns” over the computer systems of Chinese-made EVs. “China is determined to dominate the future of the auto market, including by using unfair practices,” said Biden in late February. “China’s policies could flood our market with its vehicles, posing risks to our national security.” The president has even ordered an investigation into China’s so-called smart cars, which most EVs are these days.

But the Biden administration’s climate goals for auto emissions rely on a mass transition to EVs across the nation. Already, it’s behind in ramping up towards its goal of wanting half of all vehicles sold in 2030 to be EVs, likely because most Americans can’t afford them, or can’t access the far-cheaper Chinese-made cars. On top of that, the GOP has now made attacking EVs part of its new culture war. It’s no wonder EVs remain out of reach for most Americans.

Why are Chinese cars so much cheaper, more varied, and just better than American ones? It doesn’t all boil down to the cost of labor as one might imagine. Chinese labor costs are not as low as they used to be. China’s government has simply made EVs a massive priority. An analysis in MIT Technology Review explained, “the government has long played an important role—propping up both the supply of EVs and the demand for them,” and that there have been “generous government subsidies, tax breaks, procurement contracts, and other policy incentives.”

Instead of adopting a similarly aggressive approach to making EVs a priority, the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has created a complex series of tax credits that require all EV materials and labor to be sourced in the U.S.—a goal whose math just doesn’t add up. And, the IRA doesn’t even protect U.S. workers enough. The United Auto Workers (UAW) denounced the IRA on its first anniversary for failing to require fair labor standards in the transition to an EV economy.

Still, UAW did the job itself. Fresh from a major union victory in late 2023 the union won job protections from the three biggest U.S. automakers for workers transitioning into the EV industry.

Our economy relies far too much on cars and most American cities are planned around car-centric living. It’s no wonder that petroleum-powered vehicles are the single largest U.S. source of climate-changing emissions. There are many ways to reduce this source, including redesigning cities to be more walkable, improving the quality and cost of public transportation and train systems, and encouraging bicycle transportation when possible—all of which will take concerted effort, time, and resources.

But the climate clock is ticking fast. After decades of scientists and climate activists sounding the alarm and being ignored, we are only now starting to take baby steps to mitigate climate change and it’s simply not enough. Even when accounting for the mineral extraction needed to make EV batteries, EVs have a far lower carbon footprint than petroleum-based cars and are perhaps the best, most accessible tool we have to quickly reduce our carbon impact.