January 30, 2021

This Ex-SNL Star Is Giving MyPillow Guy the Floor for His Conspiracy Rants

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-snl-star-joe-piscopo-is-giving-mypillow-guy-the-floor-for-his-conspiracy-rants



One of Saturday Night Live’s most notorious former stars has turned his radio show into a regular platform for his business partner, cushion and conspiracy hawker Mike Lindell, amplifying the Trump-loving MyPillow founder and his unfounded claims about the election, Twitter “censorship,” and the deadly Capitol insurrectionist riot.

Between the early 1980s and the early 2010s, Joe Piscopo went from SNL fan favorite to punchline—but resurrected his career in 2014 with Piscopo in the Morning, a four-hour block on AM 970, a talk-radio station popular with New York City commuters. Since the election of now-former President Donald Trump, Piscopo’s guests have often been a mix of dubious conservative commentators and more mainstream figures like former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. By 2018, his show had climbed into the top 50 most-streamed and most influential radio programs in the country, according to an industry poll.

In 2021, and particularly after Trump supporters rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Piscopo has repeatedly given airtime in the largest U.S. media market to Lindell, even though such hard-right outlets like Newsmax had by then sought to block the MyPillow magnate from making his outrageous claims on their air.

Undisclosed in these recurring appearances is that Piscopo and Lindell have been business partners for several years. In 2017, the duo launched a supplement line called “Nutrajoe,” for which Lindell filed and obtained the trademarks. The product was marketed via infomercial, much like MyPillow, and promoted on Lindell’s corporate Twitter account. The company remains an active concern, according to Minnesota corporate filings, though its website appears defunct.

https://twitter.com/mypillowusa/status/923308248740126728

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January 30, 2021

Albena Azmanova: Capitalism on Edge

Capitalism is not in crisis, but it is on edge—and on the point of radical transformation. That’s according to Albena Azmanova, associate professor in political and social thought at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies and author most recently of Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity can Achieve Radical Change without Crisis or Utopia (Columbia University Press). She talks to Robin Wilson, acting editor-in-chief of Social Europe.

You might also find our regular articles, blogs and other written publications of interest. Just visit our website www.socialeurope.eu to read our latest output. If you want to stay up-to-date with all things Social Europe just sign up to our regular newsletter on our website.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/

January 30, 2021

The Pandejo Movement Destroyed California's Pandemic Progress

A cautionary tale about what happens when municipalities lift restrictions too soon

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/why-southern-california-got-so-bad/617830/



Every Saturday night from my doorstep, I witness the agony and stupidity that is the coronavirus in Southern California. I live in Santa Ana, a supermajority-Latino city that has recorded 18 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Orange County and 18 percent of related deaths, despite making up just 10 percent of the county’s population. When I step outside my home, I see plastic signs staked next to sidewalks asking—urging, really—in English and Spanish for everyone to wash their hands, wear face masks, and practice social distancing. The hashtags #ProtectSantaAna and #ProtegeSantaAna top these instructions. The earnestness and importance of the messages don’t matter: Everywhere I turn, my neighbors ignore the suggestions with gusto. Down the street are tents on front yards packed with people attending a birthday party. Over there is a taco truck where people chow down shoulder to shoulder, despite signs stating that all orders are to-go. Off in all directions, I hear music: live mariachi, conjunto norteño outfits, brass bands, and DJs, echoing from blocks away. Sometimes I can even catch the sermon of a Pentecostal minister who never bothered closing his storefront church to indoor service. It’s the raucous soundtrack to barrio life that’s wonderful to hear during normal times. Nowadays, the scene reminds me of the orchestra on the Titanic. “It’s sadness,” the newly elected Santa Ana mayor, Vicente Sarmiento, told me. “We’re killing our own.”

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The coronavirus is as bad as it is here because it’s tailor-made to target those who work blue-collar jobs that are impossible to carry out at home, belong to deep social networks, and live in multigenerational households. Sounds like the Latino community, right? In normal times, we hold these attributes dear, but they are now our Achilles’ heel. “Let’s put it like this: It would be a surge for any [group] with these characteristics,” says David Hayes-Bautista, the director of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture. “It just so happens that Latinos occupy that space” in Southern California. Hayes-Bautista spent nearly all of 2020 publishing policy papers on the pandemic. The title of his next one is the most sobering yet: “COVID-19 Punishes Latinos for Hard Work and Strong Families.” Latinos account for about 39 percent of California’s population, but 55 percent of its coronavirus cases and nearly half of its coronavirus deaths. And the list of the hardest-hit areas is a roster of Southern California’s most famous Latino enclaves: Pacoima (the hometown of new U.S. Senator Alex Padilla), Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Huntington Park. In Los Angeles County, the Department of Health estimates that daily COVID-19 deaths among Latinos went from about 3.5 per 100,000 people in early November to 28 per 100,000 in January—an increase of almost 800 percent. In Ventura County, two zip codes in the city of Oxnard account for around 30 percent of all COVID-19 cases—and these spots just so happen to correspond with where farmworkers live and pick. In Orange County, Latinos make up 34 percent of the population but 44 percent of all cases and about 39 percent of deaths. This disparity is mostly because of Santa Ana and my Latino-majority hometown of Anaheim, which represents nearly 16 percent of coronavirus cases in the county and nearly 20 percent of deaths.

But I shouldn’t ignore a nonstructural issue that makes the coronavirus a potent anti-Latino foe: pandejos. The term is a portmanteau of pandemic and pendejo (“dumbass” in Mexican Spanish) that bubbled up online last year and is the Spanglish equivalent of covidiot. Most of those who flout or protest COVID-19 restrictions are not Latino, but they’re definitely among the ranks. Sheriffs all across Southern California have publicly proclaimed that they won’t enforce local or state mandates against gatherings, relying on Oath Keepers–esque rhetoric for their logic—Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, for instance, appeared on Fox News in December to state that stay-at-home orders don’t stand “the constitutional test” (a funny thing to say considering that the Department of Justice is investigating his department and the Orange County district attorney’s office over a jailhouse-snitch scandal, but I digress). Roving packs of anti-science wackos are storming malls and supermarkets to scream at people for daring to wear a mask, while police officers stand by and do nearly nothing. Loud protests against curfews and even mask-burning bonfires have popped up along the Orange County coast since the summer. Cities and school boards have sued California over various coronavirus closures, ranging from beaches to schools. And less confrontational but even more frustrating for me are all those compas and comadres in my neighborhood who just keep carrying on as if a deadly disease weren’t wasting so many of us.

The blooming of this movement wrecked the advancements Californians had accomplished, Hayes-Bautista says. “This particular epidemic, we had under control in California up to May,” he told me. “But then [the Trump] administration … presented these control measures as a socialist thing.” He’s referring to former President Donald Trump’s skepticism toward any coronavirus-mitigation efforts, including lockdowns (“Our country wasn’t built to be shut down”) and masks (“Maybe they’re not so good”). “We had this very loud, persistent drumbeat narrative” coming from people in power, Hayes-Bautista added. “It got people confused.” Latinos banging that drum deserve particular scorn because they attract unwanted attention to the whole community. For example, on Southern California’s top-rated John and Ken Show, the conservative hosts suggested that authorities should crack down specifically on Latinos. Besides, the pandejos should know better, given how la corona has destroyed us: Although Latinos may not be overrepresented among covidiots, they’re certainly overrepresented among the victims of that attitude. Again, many in the Latino community are essential workers, and they have no choice but to go out into the world, interact with all manner of anti-maskers, and risk getting infected; then they go home to their multigenerational households, where they could spread the disease. The pandejos who party in their front yard are as bad as the anti-vaxxers and militia types the left rightfully mocks.

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January 30, 2021

Cancel Earthworms

The “crazy worms” remaking forests aren’t your friendly neighborhood garden worms. Then again, those aren’t so great either.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/01/jumping-worms-are-taking-over-north-american-forests/605257/



On a sweltering July day, I follow Annise Dobson down an overgrown path into the heart of Seton Falls Park. It’s a splotch of unruly forest, surrounded by the clamouring streets and cramped rowhouses of the Bronx. Broken glass, food wrappers, and condoms litter the ground. But Dobson, bounding ahead in khaki hiking pants with her blond ponytail swinging, appears unfazed. As I quickly learn, neither trash nor oppressive humidity nor ecological catastrophe can dampen her ample enthusiasm. At the bottom of the hill, Dobson veers off the trail and stops in a shady clearing. This seems like a promising spot. She kicks away the dead oak leaves and tosses a square frame made of PVC pipe onto the damp earth. Then she unscrews a milk jug. It holds a pale yellow slurry of mustard powder and water that’s completely benign—unless you’re a worm. Seconds after Dobson empties the contents inside the frame, the soil wriggles to life. “Holy smokes!” she says, as a dozen worms come squirming out of the soil—their brown, wet skin burning with irritation. “Disgusting.”

I have to agree. There is something unnerving about their slithering, serpentine style; instead of inching along like garden worms, they snap their bodies like angry rattlesnakes. But the problem with these worms isn’t their mode of locomotion. It’s the fact that they’re here at all. Until about 10,000 years ago, a vast ice sheet covered the northern third of the North American continent. Its belly rose over what is now Hudson Bay, and its toes dangled down into Iowa and Ohio. Scientists think it killed off the earthworms that may have inhabited the area before the last glaciation. And worms—with their limited powers of dispersal—weren’t able to recolonize on their own. For someone like me, who grew up in the Midwest seeing earthworms stranded on the sidewalk after every rain, this was a shocking revelation. With the exception of a few native species that live in rotting logs and around wetlands, there are not supposed to be any earthworms east of the Great Plains and north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

But there are, thanks to humans. We’ve been moving worms for centuries, in dirt used for ship ballast, in horticultural plants, in mulch. Worms from South America now tunnel through the global tropics. And European earthworms live on every continent except Antarctica. Dobson, a forest ecologist at Yale University, calls it “global worming.” But of all the earthworms people have shuttled around the world, the ones Dobson shows me at Seton Falls have scientists most concerned. Originally from Korea and Japan, they are known as jumping worms, snake worms, or crazy worms. And they have the potential to remake the once wormless forests of North America. The perils of an earthworm invasion are hard to grasp if you’ve been raised to believe that earthworms are good. “They seem so symbolic of a healthy ecosystem,” Dobson says. For their stellar reputation, they can thank none other than Charles Darwin. In addition to developing the theory of evolution, Darwin studied earthworms for 40 years at his home in England.

With characteristic curiosity and rigor, the naturalist conducted all manner of earthworm experiments: He observed their reaction to the sound of the bassoon (none) and to the vibrations of a C note played on the piano (panic). He watched how they pulled leaves into their burrows, and tested their problem-solving skills by offering them small triangles of paper instead (most figured out how to drag them by a corner). Darwin also measured how quickly worms covered up a large paving stone in his garden with their castings. He estimated that they could move at least 10 tons of soil per acre per year. Dirty, slimy earthworms weren’t especially popular in Victorian England. But in 1881, shortly before his death, Darwin compiled his worm studies into a book called The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms with Observations on their Habits, in which he praised the humble critters. “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures,” he rhapsodized. The book became a best seller, giving worms’ dingy public image a makeover in the process.

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January 29, 2021

The 'Roaring Kitty' Rally: How a Reddit User and His Friends Roiled the Markets

A Massachusetts man who goes by “Roaring Kitty” on social media helped fuel the frenzy around GameStop. His $53,000 investment in the company briefly reached $48 million in value.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/technology/roaring-kitty-reddit-gamestop-markets.html



In mid-2019, a Reddit user — known as “Roaring Kitty” on some social media accounts — posted a picture on an online forum depicting a single $53,000 investment in the video-game retailer GameStop. The post attracted little attention, except from a few people who mocked the bet on the struggling company. “This dude should sell now,” a Reddit user named cmcewen wrote at the time. But Roaring Kitty was not deterred. Over the next year, he began tweeting frequently about GameStop and making YouTube and TikTok videos about his investment. He also started livestreaming his financial ideas. Other Reddit users with monikers like Ackilles and Bowlerguy92 began following his every move and piling into GameStop.

“IF HE IS IN WE ARE IN💎💎💎,” one user wrote on a Reddit board called WallStreetBets on Tuesday. Roaring Kitty — who is Keith Gill, 34, a former financial educator for an insurance firm in Massachusetts — has now become a central figure in this week’s stock market frenzy. Inspired by him and a small crew of individual investors who gathered around him, hordes of young online traders took GameStop’s stock on a wild ride, pitting themselves against sophisticated hedge funds and upending Wall Street’s norms in the process. Their actions — pushing up GameStop’s price by buying so-called options contracts that offer a cheap way to bet on a stock’s direction — have shocked established investors because Mr. Gill and his online comrades are the antithesis of the Wall Street titans who have long ruled the stock market.


A screenshot of Keith Gill from his Roaring Kitty’s YouTube channel.Credit...via Youtube

Working far from well-heeled financial offices, Mr. Gill and his fans socialized on Reddit and YouTube and used no-fee online trading platforms like Robinhood and WeBull. Many were so devoted to their GameStop investment that they spent hours each week chatting in the comments section of Mr. Gill’s videos, delving into the company’s financial filings and arcane details about free-cash flow and video game consoles. Their show of force this week underlines how the financial markets have changed by merging with the world of social media and a younger generation of traders who have been empowered by online platforms. It has also made some in this new generation wildly wealthy.

On Tuesday, Mr. Gill posted a picture on Reddit that showed his $53,000 bet on GameStop had soared in value to $48 million. (His holdings could not be independently verified.) The post was “upvoted” — the equivalent of being liked — more than 140,000 times by other users. GameStop, which traded at $4 a year ago, closed on Thursday at $193 after reaching more than $480 earlier in the day. “Your example has literally changed the lives of thousands of ordinary normal people,” a Reddit user named reality_czech wrote this week to Mr. Gill. “Seriously thank you.” Larry Tabb, the head of market structure research at Bloomberg Intelligence, said the rise of traders like Mr. Gill “would have been impossible even a few years ago” because every trade came with a fee and there was less focus on the markets on social media. But with people now stuck at home in the pandemic with easy access to free trading at online brokerages, “these guys saw an opportunity and they took it,” he said.

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January 29, 2021

Michigan Sen. Gary Peters tapped to lead Senate Democrats' campaign arm

The just-reelected second-term senator from Michigan will be leading the party's efforts to defend its new, razor-thin majority in next year's midterms.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/28/democrats-gary-peters-dscc-2022-463458

Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan will chair the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2022 as Democrats seek to protect their fragile 50-50 majority in the chamber.

Peters, who is coming off his own competitive reelection in which he narrowly won a second term against a well-funded challenger, will be tasked with leading the committee in what is expected to be a tumultuous first midterm election for the party with tenuous control over all levers of power in Washington.

The 2022 Senate map provides an equal dose of opportunities and challenges for Democrats. They'll have to defend newly elected senators in Georgia and Arizona, as well as first-term incumbents in Nevada and New Hampshire, while also looking to go on the offensive in places such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, two of which are already open seats with GOP senators set to retire.

Peters, who was first elected in 2014 in the same year Democrats lost their last Senate majority, said in an interview Thursday he plans to lean on his experience winning during a challenging midterm environment — when an unpopular former President Barack Obama was still in the White House and Democrats were wiped out nearly everywhere. He declined to address whether the party would continue its aggressive posture to back candidates in open primaries and said Democrats' issue set will be focused on pandemic response, reviving the economy, affordable health care and jobs.

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January 29, 2021

Have the Tories become the party of the far-right?

Some have accused the Tories of aping old BNP policies. Is it fair?

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/have-the-tories-become-the-party-of-the-far-right/28/01/



Last March, in the heat of Britain’s first salvoes with coronavirus, the former head of MI5 made a remarkable intervention that, given the unfolding national crisis, slid somewhat under the radar. Lord Evans of Weardale, who led Britain’s domestic security service between 2006 and 2013, suggested that the threat of far-right terrorism in Britain could be diminishing following Boris Johnson’s election victory a few months earlier. The supposed blunting of that threat was not, he said, because the ideological extremism which sustains the far-right was fading away. Instead it was because many of the “alienated” voters who are usually sucked into the British National Party (BNP) or English Defence League (EDL) felt as if their voices had been heard at the ballot box after the Conservative victory the previous December. “Whatever you think of the outcome of the recent election in the UK, the fact that some of the legitimate concerns that were being used as a pretext by English nationalists have now been formally acknowledged at the ballot box might be a good outcome, even though it is sort of disconcerting for southern liberals,” the former MI5 director general – now a crossbench peer – said.

“There was a significant alienated and disenfranchised group out there who didn’t think the system was taking any notice of them. And that’s where you need to be concerned about extremists exploiting legitimate concerns. “Disaffected English nationalists were manifesting themselves at the extremes in things like the British National Party and National Action, which fed the undertone that articulated itself as extreme rightwing terrorism.” In the weeks after the election, it emerged that more than 5,000 supporters of far-right group Britain First – whose leaders were jailed for hate crimes against Muslims in 2018 had joined the Conservatives. “We will support a party that is willing to take a firm stance against radical Islam and it looks like the Tories are willing to do that,” the organisation’s spokeswoman said. The Conservative Party’s drift towards the far-right has reared its head again this week, as the Guardian revealed that EU citizens are being offered financial incentives to leave the UK now that Brexit is done and dusted. Eagle-eyed viewers noted that the BNP had outlined a similar-sounding plan over a decade ago.

There are some caveats here. The BNP announced that it would offer “non-white Britons” up to £50,000 to leave the country – an overtly racist proposal that is a far cry from the government’s voluntary return scheme, which offers financial support up to £2,000 to encourage people to return to their country of origin. Nonetheless it sparked accusations in some quarters that the Conservative Party were veering further and further towards the fringes. It is not the first time those claims have been bandied about. Last year, an old National Front poster from the 1970s did the rounds online, which several pointing out that the fascist group’s manifesto – “STOP immigration”, “SCRAP overseas aid”, “REBUILD our armed forces”, “REJECT Common Market” – shared many similarities with the modern Tory party’s platform. This government is, undoubtedly, among the most right-wing in living memory. The home secretary has reportedly explored the idea of sending asylum seekers to a volcanic island in the South Atlantic. Many ministers seem more comfortable waging petty culture wars against the “woke left” and “BLM” than doing their actual jobs.

But far-right? Recent events in America – where the far-right was effectively patronised and co-opted by Donald Trump, with catastrophic consequences – surely puts that suggestion in perspective. Allegations of authoritarianism ring a little hollow, too. For all the Dominic Cummings-era sabre-rattling with the media, Boris Johnson’s government holds regular press briefings wherein members of the press are able to ask questions of his Covid-19 response and hold the government to account. The UK recently offered up to three million Hong Kong citizens a path to citizenship. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, imposed sanctions against Belarus after the country’s dictatorial ruler held a rigged election and crushed peaceful protests on the streets – moving before even the European Union. The far-right poses a real and terrifying threat in this country, and the government has been too reluctant to meet head-on. One need only look to the “statue defenders” who descended on London to see as much. Nor is there any doubt that the Tory party has swung hard to the right – and there are undoubtedly MPs in the party who veer dangerously close to extremism. It will be interesting to see how the party treats on Desmond Swayne who, it emerged on Thursday, appeared on the antisemitic, conspiratorial Richie Allen Show last year. But Jacob Rees-Mogg is not Tommy Robinson, and Johnson is not Viktor Orbán. Not yet, anyway.

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January 29, 2021

Covid: Tory MP refuses to apologise for telling vaccine sceptics to 'persist' with their campaign

Anglea Rayner said the Tory MP “endorsed conspiracy theories about the veracity of the disease” and made a “deeply dangerous claim” about official figures.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/covid-tory-mp-refuses-to-apologise-for-telling-vaccine-sceptics-to-persist-with-their-campaign/28/01/



Senior Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne has refused to apologise for telling vaccine sceptics to “persist” with their campaign against coronavirus lockdown restrictions, arguing he was unaware of their position on jabs. Cabinet member Michael Gove told the former minister to retract his remarks and apologise on Thursday, in condemning his Conservative colleague as “completely out of order”. The Conservative Party has declined to suspend the lockdown-sceptic over his remarks, or for a separate interview with anti-vaxxer Del Bigtree, and it is understood he will be asked to attend meetings with scientific advisers. Sir Desmond, in comments reported by Sky News, told the Save Our Rights UK group, which argues wrongly that vaccines are “being rushed through safety testing”, that some Covid-19 figures had been “manipulated” and called on them to “persist” in their campaign.

New Forest

In an interview with the PA news agency, the New Forest West MP said he is “evangelical” in his support for the vaccination programme and pointed out that he is on the record as criticising the use of data and other health measures in the House of Commons. “I have always had a great deal of respect for Michael but I’m not sure precisely what I’m being asked to apologise for,” Sir Desmond said. “I had no idea indeed I am not aware of any baggage they hold on anti-vaxx it’s never been discussed, never been raised.” He said he was telling the campaigners to “persist” in the campaign against restrictions, but insisted they should stick to the rules. Earlier, Mr Gove called for the New Forest West MP to issue a full retraction and apologise for his “unacceptable” comments.

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1354694965620842498
The senior Cabinet minister told Sky News: “Sir Desmond is wrong. “I work with Sir Desmond, I have great affection for him but I’m afraid here he is completely out of order.” Pressed if he thinks be kicked out of Tory party if he does not apology, Mr Gove said: “I think it’s for Sir Desmond to make that apology to retract and withdraw his words and I’m sure he will reflect on that mistake and I’m sure he will be very clear it was a serious mistake and an apology will be forthcoming.” Dozens of arrests have taken place during marches against lockdown restrictions organised by Save Our Rights UK.

https://twitter.com/AngelaRayner/status/1354544350622085120
Rushed

The group also takes controversial views on vaccines, falsely claiming they are “being rushed through safety testing” despite rigorous trials and pushing doubts about the jabs. Sky News reported that in November Sir Desmond told the group that the figures were “bouncing round at the typical level of deaths for the time of year”. “It seems to be a manageable risk, particularly as figures have been manipulated… We’re told there is a deathly, deadly pandemic proceeding at the moment,” he said. “That is difficult to reconcile with ICUs (intensive care units) actually operating at typical occupation levels for the time of year and us bouncing round at the typical level of deaths for the time of year.” This month Sir Desmond told US anti-vaxxer Mr Bigtree that the UK has become “a police state” and accused the Government of attempting to implement “social control” through actions such as the mandatory wearing of face masks, the broadcaster reported.

https://twitter.com/DesmondSwayne/status/1354448294706110467

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January 29, 2021

Nile Rodgers - Do What You Wanna Do (The Reflex Clubbed Up Revision 2021)

CR2
Cat: ITC 3146
Released: 29 January, 2021
Genre: Disco/Nu-Disco

January 29, 2021

G.M. Will Sell Only Zero-Emission Vehicles by 2035

The move, one of the most ambitious in the auto industry, is a piece of a broader plan by the company to become carbon neutral by 2040.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/business/gm-zero-emission-vehicles.html



The days of the internal combustion engine are numbered. General Motors said Thursday that it would phase out petroleum-powered cars and trucks and sell only vehicles that have zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a seismic shift by one of the world’s largest automakers that makes billions of dollars today from gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. The announcement is likely to put pressure on automakers around the world to make similar commitments. It could also embolden President Biden and other elected officials to push for even more aggressive policies to fight climate change. Leaders could point to G.M.’s decision as evidence that even big businesses have decided that it is time for the world to begin to transition away from fossil fuels that have powered the global economy for more than a century.

G.M.’s move is sure to roil the auto industry, which, between car and parts makers, employed about one million people in the United States in 2019, more than any other manufacturing sector by far. It will also have huge ramifications for the oil and gas sector, whose fortunes are closely tied to the internal combustion engine. A rapid shift by the auto industry could lead to job losses and business failures in related areas. Electric cars don’t have transmissions or need oil changes, meaning conventional service stations will have to retool what they do. Electric vehicles also require fewer workers to make, putting traditional manufacturing jobs at risk. At the same time, the move to electric cars will spark a boom in areas like battery manufacturing, mining and charging stations.

Electric cars today are the fastest-growing segment of the auto industry, but they still make up a small proportion of new car sales: about 3 percent of the global total, according to the International Energy Agency. Sales of such cars jumped last year in Europe and China, but they remain niche products in the United States. They are bought primarily by affluent early adopters who are drawn to the luxury models made by Tesla, which dominates the business, and by environmentally conscious consumers. A spokesman for Ford Motor declined to directly comment on G.M.’s move but said his company was “committed to leading the electric vehicle revolution in the areas where we are strong.” Several other automakers, most of them European, have previously pledged more modest steps in the direction that G.M. says it is headed. Daimler, which makes Mercedes-Benz cars, has said it would have an electric or hybrid version of each of its models by 2022, and Volkswagen has promised an electric version for each of its models by 2030.

G.M. said its decision to switch to electric cars was part of a broader plan to become carbon neutral by 2040. “General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world,” Mary T. Barra, G.M.’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole.” G.M.’s announcement comes just one week after Mr. Biden signed an executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department to quickly reinstate tough auto fuel-economy rules put in place during the Obama administration, and one day after he signed a follow-up order directing the federal government to purchase all-electric vehicles. He is also pushing for a new economic recovery package to include funding to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, and to create a system of rebates and incentives for purchasing electric vehicles.

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