Richard Reich
BERKELEY — Like the poor across America and much of the world, poor Texans are getting hammered by climate change.
The state’s prevailing social Darwinism was expressed most succinctly by the mayor of Colorado City, who accused his constituents — trapped in near-subzero temperatures and complaining about lack of heat, electricity and drinkable water — of being the “lazy” products of a “socialist government,” adding that he was “sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout” and predicting “only the strong will survive and the weak will perish.”
Texas has the third-highest number of billionaires in America, most of them oil tycoons. Last week, the laissez-faire state energy market delivered a bonanza to oil and gas producers that managed to keep production going during the freeze. It was “like hitting the jackpot,” boasted Roland Burns, the president of Comstock Resources Inc. on an earnings call. Jerry Jones, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, holds a majority of Comstock’s shares.