Alternative Headline: “The US spent at least 400 billion to maintain its fossil fuel car and energy industries this century.”
If the western political classes hadn’t corruptly subsidized the fossil fuel oligarchy with trillions of dollars since WW2, the west would be leading the world in clean energy tech. Instead, exactly as expected, the same politicians and oligarchs who made fossil fueled warming an existential threat to life on Earth are continuing to hamstring the clean energy transition and deflect blame, by screaming “China bad”.
The corporate oligarchy would prefer to sow the seeds of fascism, nationalism, and xenophobia than allow legitimate democracy, make fewer profits, or give workers a fair share. They proved that when they outsourced as much as possible to China, and other authoritarian states.