“Clean energy is winning,” boasted Gina McCarthy, former EPA director and current climate adviser to Joe Biden. “Fossil fuels [are] losing jobs.” That’s right — she was literally bragging about the federal government picking winners and losers in the economy. That’s one of the myriad problems with the Left’s whole climate change agenda.

It’s not just fossil fuels — as in things like offshore drilling or the Keystone pipeline killed by Biden. It’s big automakers. The Wall Street Journal editorial board begins its story with a Biden quote about jobs:

“Folks, when I think about climate change — and I’ve been saying this for three years — I think jobs,” President Biden said Wednesday. Then why is Ford Motor Co. planning to lay off thousands of workers to fund its government-mandated electric vehicles?

As many as 8,000 workers may be let go to make room for financing Ford’s electric vehicle expansion. “Ford plans to spend $50 billion to make two million EVs annually by 2026,” the Journal says, “which is a steep ramp-up from the 27,140 it sold last year.” Moreover, “The United Auto Workers union estimates that increasing EV manufacturing could result in the loss of 35,000 union jobs because it requires fewer parts.”

Beyond job cuts, Ford’s $50 billion investment will no doubt partly come from price increases paid by car buyers. Oh, and there’s the fact that Ford will import most of its car batteries from China.

Despite that heavy dose of reality, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for one, is “astonished” that consumers just aren’t really buying into the Left’s EV utopia. “Some folks seem to really struggle to let go of the status quo,” he complained last week. High gas prices and lost jobs? That’s all just part of the plan. As Buttigieg explained, “This is what a transition looks like.”

Biden was elected to be the “moderate” guy, the steady hand at the wheel. Yet McCarthy, Buttigieg, and other radical ecofascists are the ones pushing his climate agenda, which includes that pesky order demanding about 50% of cars sold by 2030 be EVs.

Then you have run-of-the-mill activists writing op-eds demanding that $5 per gallon be a “floor on gasoline prices” because that’s what’s necessary to fulfill that transition Buttigieg wants. Remember that the next time Biden wants to score political points by telling you how much he saved you at the pump this month. Remember that the next time you hear Biden has nixed a drilling permit or banned drilling in vast swaths of federal land or waters. And remember that the next time you see a wealthy American getting a tax credit (that you funded) for that high-priced Tesla.

In order for Americans and our economy to thrive, we need fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. Most Americans know this. There’s no problem with an “all of the above” choice for energy and cars. There is a huge problem with picking winners and losers because, ultimately, that just means government wins and you lose.