Links tagged “governance”

Claim: "It is irrational to rely on capitalist solutions to global warming when it is capitalism itself that has led us towards the current path of a climate catastrophe."

Progressive economist Robert Pollin suggests that "we should think of a Global Green New Deal as exactly the equivalent of an insurance policy to protect ourselves and the planet against the serious prospect—thought not the certainty—that we are facing an ecologic catastrophe." ... 

Pollin makes a convincing argument that it is irrational to rely on capitalist solutions to global warming when it is capitalism itself that has led us towards the current path of a climate catastrophe.

The new proposal for a separate energy and carbon audit — distinct from the financial audit and conducted by a different professional body — not only imposes further costs on businesses, but also creates a green profession focused on monitoring the requirements of the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting Regulations. Since these are supported by criminal sanctions this is sinister and unwelcome development.

The world is heating up and we face a global pandemic. Neither of these assertions is to be questioned, says Malm. “Science” tells us that they are true, and that is that. What causes these problems? The answer, you will not be surprised to learn, is capitalism. Marx long ago predicted that capitalism would collapse because capitalists, greedy for profit, would expand production to a greater extent than the market could absorb. The revisionist Marxist Eduard Bernstein objected that capitalism had so far surmounted its crises and hadn’t collapsed, but Rosa Luxemburg, another heroic figure for Malm, had high hopes for future disaster.

Walter Williams RIP

Marc Morano's comment: "The world has lost one of its greatest thinkers and the greatest defender of freedom. As a former student of Dr. Willaims at George Mason University in the 1980s, his loss cuts deep. I interviewed Dr. Williams for GMU TV, I got a 'C' in his economics class and I later featured him in my Amazon Rainforest Documentary in 2000. See: Rainforest Factsheet: Clear-Cutting the Myths About the Amazon and Tropical Rainforests

Williams was a ferocious debater who regularly popped the Left and media misperceptions on race, economics, culture and freedom. He also a regular guest host of Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio show. His death will leave a gaping hole in intellectual thought." 

Williams recent quotes: 

"Leftists constantly preach such nonsense as 'The world that we live in is beautiful but fragile.' ... 'Remember that Earth needs to be saved every single day.' These and many other statements, along with apocalyptic predictions, are stock in trade for environmentalists. Worse yet, this fragile-earth indoctrination is fed to the nation's youth from kindergarten through college. That's why many millennials support Rep. Ocasio-Cortez." -- Walter Williams in 2019

“Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man.” --  Walter E. Williams

"Despite the miracles of capitalism, it doesn't do well in popularity polls. One of the reasons is that capitalism is always evaluated against the non-existent utopias of socialism or communism. Any earthly system pales in comparison to utopias. But for the ordinary person, capitalism, with all of its warts, is superior to any system yet devised to deal with our everyday needs and desires." - Walter Williams

WALTER WILLIAMS: ‘The biggest casualty from the COVID-19 pandemic has nothing to do with the disease. It’s the power we’ve given to politicians and bureaucrats. The question is how we recover our freedoms’

Michael D Higgins will today call for a new approach to economics that incorporates the “radicalism” of climate activism. Part of the worldwide response to climate change should be framed around the principles of “redistribution, social consumption and social investment”, the president will say. Mr Higgins will call for a new approach to economics, one that “combines the radicalism that is in the consciousness of climate activism” with the “consciousness of egalitarianism.

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One that “combines the radicalism that is in the consciousness of climate activism, with the consciousness of egalitarianism and the programmes of inclusion activists”. It should be “framed around the three implicit goals of welfare states: redistribution, social consumption and social investment and characterised by gender equality, income redistribution, a reconfigured social consumption,” he will say.

Salon Staff Writer Matthew Rozsa: "The truth is that the ailment afflicting America is capitalism, and the difference between the two parties is that the Democrats will only describe some of the symptoms but refuse to provide an honest diagnosis, while the Republicans outright defend the disease. Most of the major problems with America, and the world, can be traced back to the singular cause of capitalism, an economic system in which a society's means of production are primarily controlled by private individuals hoping to make a profit. It is a system that has devastated our planet to the point where it may soon be largely uninhabitable, created massive income inequality and left us woefully unprepared for crises like the novel coronavirus pandemic." ...

"The state of facts and evidence proves that capitalism is condemning millions upon millions to hopeless poverty, rendering us incapable of effectively coping with manageable problems like a pandemic and literally destroying the planet. Unless that reality becomes part of our mainstream political discourse, humanity is doomed."

Joel Kotkin: This is a state that issues mandates for electrification of everything while reducing its generating capacity. It blames devastating fires on climate change, without taking the blame for forestry practices that helped make the seasonal fires much worse. In California, pot is legal, but owning a car with a gas engine, however clean, may soon not be, and climate skeptics of any stripe face opprobrium, consignment to obscurity, and—if they have assets—court dates. ...

In both Germany and California, green policies have hurt the working class far more than the affluent, who, argues British socialist James Heartfield, actually benefit from scarcity. Family-oriented people may also object to Ecotopia-like calls for restrictions on having children due to their “carbon legacy,” a proposal already endorsed by climate researchers at Sweden’s Lund University and Oregon State University. Some scientists suggest that we will have to shift from hamburgers to such delightful concoctions as “maggot sausages.” One scientist even suggested that we recycle ourselves and rediscover the finer points of cannibalism.

The Coming Autocracy

It’s unlikely that voters will long embrace such ideas. But many greens, concerned that the masses may not follow orders, prefer the post-democratic method of handing over power to credentialed environmental “experts” operating in Washington, Brussels, or the United Nations, a notion already advanced by former Obama budget advisor Peter Orszag and journalist Thomas Friedman.