Thanks to a perfect storm of the coronavirus's supply shock and the monumentally stupid race to the bottom between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the planet is flooded with oil amid a collapse in consumer demand, plunging prices to record lows and West Texas Intermediate futures into the negatives.

All of this means that after decades of oil prices incentivizing markets into funding research and development of green technology, the economic demand for carbon neutral tech just collapsed.

Naturally, America's favorite science fair winner found a reason to celebrate.

You absolutely love to see it.



This along with record low interest rates means it’s the right time for a worker-led, mass investment in green infrastructure to save our planet. *cough* https://t.co/UqT8DI5u2I — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 20, 2020

This take, coming from someone who majored in economics, shames the school Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended. She has since deleted this tweet, of course, guaranteeing that it will get even more attention. And she followed up with one that will still surely give House Speaker Nancy Pelosi an aneurysm.

Now is the time to create millions of good jobs building out the infrastructure and clean energy necessary to save our planet for future generations.



For our economy, our planet, and our future, we need a #GreenNewDeal. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 20, 2020

As a matter of pure politicking, a sitting member of the House of Representatives probably shouldn't celebrate any form of a market crash, especially one that will leave even more people unemployed as Democrats are refusing to fund emergency checks for small businesses. But it's somehow even dumber as a matter of environmental advocacy.

For starters, high oil prices were the very engine, so to speak, driving the green technology industry. Priuses didn't take off because people wanted to spend significantly more money just to save the planet. Rather, there was a strong financial incentive for consumers to buy a slightly more expensive car to save on gas. When a gallon of gas costs mere cents, not dollars, then why would anyone spend more for an electric or hybrid car?

Both our debt-to-GDP ratio and our deficit are reaching their highest levels since World War II, and by autumn, our public debt will surpass the value of our entire annual GDP. Even when oil was expensive, it was already a dubious proposition to borrow money and spend it researching green technologies. Now it would make even less sense.

Meanwhile, the low interest rates that AOC cites as a reason for borrowing now are both artificial and likely fleeting. The Fed can no longer cut interest rates, and it is now relying on massive bond purchases to keep rates low. This may also prove untenable, as David Lynch at the Washington Post notes.

"In March, to smooth out dysfunctional trading, the Fed began buying $75 billion worth of government bonds every day," Lynch writes. "The Fed has cut back to daily purchases of $30 billion, but that is still a staggering amount of central bank support. At the peak of the Fed’s controversial crisis-fighting efforts in 2010, it was purchasing only $110 billion of government securities each month. Today, it buys that much in less than four days."

That's not exactly a recipe for investor confidence.

Already, 22 million people have reported losing their jobs, a figure that will only increase. Small businesses, including even those of primary care physicians, are on the brink of extinction, meaning even more workers currently furloughed might just lose their jobs permanently. The only winner in all of this may be the environment, given a brief reprieve from normal human activity. But that won't last, either. Whenever things get going again, rock bottom gas prices will make the latest Tesla look even more expensive in comparison with a used Toyota.

It's easy to spend money on research and development for green tech when the eventual return on investment looks like it will be positive. It might still be palatable if the government at least has cash to spare.

In times of a debt-ridden crisis and record-low oil prices? It's a nonstarter.