CAGW: rich man's lolly; poor man's folly

Even though CO2 has continued to accumulate in our atmosphere temperatures have not followed suit. Severe weather has not become more frequent or more extreme. So CAGW is a sham. 

The CAGW scare is manufactured by rich people for rich people.

 It will harm poor people.

Should we be surprised?

We live in a crony capitalist state where astute business people have learned how to work the government for their own benefit. They know where the power is. Lawyers, not known for their appearances in the soup kitchen, draft the laws and tip them in their favor. Rich people do not like a level playing field. They like any excuse to use the police power of the state to enforce financial rules to benefit their own markets.

When the state commands the economy and can interfere in it, business people must be on the defensive or take the offensive to direct government cash into the service of their markets.

Example: if it comes to be believed that humans are altering the climate in nefarious ways the smart entrepreneur will launch businesses to capitalize on this belief. They will petition government to pass laws that disadvantage their competition like having coal powered electricity generation phased out. This will result in more government dependence on natural gas. Good for the natural gas companies. Other entrepreneurs will jump on the biofuel, wind and solar power generation technologies and line up for subsidies offered by gullible government because those methods of power generation are too inefficient and expensive to compete with lower cost coal, natural gas and oil. Taxes go up to pay for higher priced energy - a double whammy. This is good for poor people (/sarc) and is not noticed by the 1%. Smart investors see where the money is going and buy stock in subsidized industries and hope they sell out before the inevitable crash when the subsidies run out.

Reliance on alternative fuels is built into the fight global warming crusade and results in an increase in the cost of energy. This is appreciated by poor people who are only too happy to shiver and sweat or die for the environment. Those getting rich in the alternative fuels industry can continue their wasteful ways and assuage their conscience with the purchase of carbon offsets. Others are impoverished.

Food prices go up as we grow food like corn to turn into ethanol to burn in our vehicles. What a brainy idea and the poor thank-you with all their heart.

Let's get less fuel efficient older vehicles off the road with a Cash for Clunkers program. This will drive up the price of used cars as their supply is diminished by this original program and the poor, who are the prime purchasers of used cars will thank you with all their heart.

Green organizations benefit from increased donations from both individuals and corporations that want to curry favor with the public. We are all familiar with Coca-Cola's association with the World Wildlife Fund. CEO's of green organizations are not among the poor. They can even be used as front men for nefarious corporate attacks against rival industries as Natural Gas did with the coal industry.

CFL  bulb makers will petition the state to outlaw the competition of incandescent bulb makers for there is a higher markup in CFL bulbs. Again the poor person is disadvantaged. But they can take solace in the fact that they are helping to defeat climate change. Yeah!

Plastic bags are disadvantaged by requiring merchants to charge customers for them in an attempt to discourage their use. Makers of cloth bags like this policy. Again poor people have their beleaguered budgets bludgeoned. Yeah!

We must learn to separate the economy from the State in order to retain our liberty and keep our country great. No subsidies, tax breaks, grants or favorable loans or laws to any business big or small. End corporate welfare. Let's return to a free market and not a stacked market. Crony capitalism must die.

And when renewables turn out to be folly, subsidized companies will disappear and the taxpayer will be left holding the cloth bag. "Spanish renewable-energy companies that once got Europe’s biggest subsidies are deserting the nation after the government shut off aid, pushing project developers and equipment-makers to work abroad or perish." Folly will follow the renewable energy businesses around the world as governments already in the red realize the true cost of intermittent wind and solar. Think sailboat: what does it need when the wind isn't blowing?

Let's cheer for the higher taxes that will be paid by the 99% to cover the rich man's subsidies (lolly) which are never recovered. Rich people are like Little Miss Helpful  without the good intentions. They are looking out for number one. And the poor man 's folly is to pay for the rich man's lolly. The last linked article ends with this quote from Andrew Jackson:

“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes,” President Andrew Jackson wrote in 1832. “[W]hen the laws undertake to add . . . artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society — the farmers, mechanics, and laborers — who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government.”

The problem has been with us for a long time. Crony capitalism must die. 

CAGW really stands for: Conning A Gullible World. (h/t to Mac the Knife, a commenter at the blog Watts Up With That for the accurate acronym.)

Sadly, CAGW has casualties who are misled true believers.  Jay McGinley will pay with his life if he keeps up his own starvation and for what? His death will be on the climate alarmists who refused to open their eyes. (Update: Fortunately he ended his hunger strike)

Time for another way. Will Romney take up the gauntlet? Not holding my breath.