Friday, June 26, 2009

Climate Change? -- Not Really

The Chinese, who don't believe in climate change, are applauding today's House of Representatives vote to impose sweeping new taxes and regulations on major American industries and dramatically higher electric bills for all Americans. Sounds like such a great idea in the middle of a recession that the President thinks reminds him of the Great Depression. You know...he may end up being right. This might become the Great Depression. Stick around.

But, why are the Chinese happy? How does this help them? Well, for one thing, they don't plan any "cap and trade' foolishness, so that all the companies and plants that disappear in the US can simply reappear in China and produce in the same old way. Net effect...same level of carbon production...no different....just different people doing the producting. The Chinese don't mind taking over these industries. The Americans can do whatever they want and the Chinese can do whatever they want. They are adding, this year alone, as many coal producing electrical plants in China just this year, as exist in the entire United States. Within five years they will have double that amount. The Chinese aren't interested in reducing carbon emissions. They plan to increase future emissions by multiples of the current US emission levels. In a few years, it really won't matter from a climate change point of view, what the US does. It will only matter what China does.

But what is certain is that much of the industrial heartland of America will get shipped to China, leaving behind millions of workers and thousands of companies that no longer have a future. This will be the Obama legacy of climate change. The climate itself will move merrily along with ever increasing carbon emissions thanks to China, India, Brazil and Russia, who have absolutely no intention of walking the plank blindfolded as the US is doing.

The only effect of the Obama climate change bill is to reduce the United States to an impotent third-class economy with staggeringly high levels of unemployment while the rest of the world spurts ahead economically. There will certainly be no impact on carbon emissions globally.