How Gov’t Unions and Crony Capitalists Exploit Global Warming Concerns - California Political Review https://t.co/TECDtxsS8E— CA Political Review (@CAPoliticalRev) June 23, 2016
If anyone is looking for evidence that government unions and crony capitalists work together – contrary to the conventional wisdom that presents the appearance that they are in conflict – again look no further than their shared support for global warming mitigation, expressed in the legislative mandate to reduce CO2 emissions. AB32 implements this by forcing industrial entities to purchase permits to emit progressively smaller quantities of CO2, via an auction process that is expected to raise $20 billion per year to finance renewable energy investments.
Think about how government unions will benefit from all this money:
- Transit workers will claim a share because they will be getting cars off the road.
- Firefighters will claim more fires are because of global warming and demand more funds – when in reality most severe wildfires are the result of decades of forest mismanagement and unwarranted wildfire suppression.
- Cities will qualify for proceeds when they zone extremely high density housing.
- Code enforcement officers will declare that the percentage of their jobs oriented towards conservation and energy/water efficiency qualifies them for a share of the proceeds.
- Teachers will declare that the percentage of their curricula oriented towards climate education qualifies them for a share of the proceeds.
- More generally, municipalities will collect more property tax as restrictive zoning elevates the cost of housing.
Think about how crony corporations and corrupt financial special interests benefit from this money:
- Wall Street traders will set up new subsidiaries to traffic in carbon emission auctions and take a cut.
- “Green” entrepreneurs will manufacture devices calculated to save energy and water – despite the fact that the shortages are contrived.
- Producers of energy and water will sell at higher prices since competitive development of these resources is restricted.
- Utilities whose profits are “decoupled” from the quantity of energy and water they deliver will increase revenue and hence their profit margins which are pegged to revenue, without having to increase services.
- Manufacturers of noncompetitive products with no natural demand – high speed rail is a perfect example – are enriched via hundreds of billions of investment for their supposedly greener and cleaner solutions.
- More generally, artificial scarcity causes asset bubbles which benefits wealthy investors and pension funds, but impoverishes ordinary workers.
Even if CO2 is a threat to life on earth, there is an alternative that merits discussion:
