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Thursday 30 August 2012

A visible tilt


There are times when I wonder if the world has gone mad and the only thing to be done is to get on with life and ignore it.

Or is it madness? Take this from Click Green:-

The world's first inter-continental link of emission trading systems has been announced by the European Union and Australia.

The Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, and the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard confirmed details of the link-up yesterday.

A full two-way link, by means of the mutual recognition of carbon units between the two cap and trade systems, is to commence no later than 1 July 2018. Under this arrangement, businesses will be allowed to use carbon units from the Australian emissions trading scheme or the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for compliance under either system


Even if the pseudoscience supporting this abject lunacy turned out to be sound, Australia and the EU cannot make any measurable difference to global temperatures via such nonsense. The EU and Australia combined generate just over 15% of global CO2. Australia only generates 1.3%, so why they bother I just don't know. In this respect the Australian government seems madder than ours and that's no mean feat.

  • But for those who build their careers on it - so what?
  • For those who build their political reputation on it - so what? 
  • For those who make pots of money from it - so what?
  • If it doesn't work - so what?

Institutional insanity on such a scale looks very much like serious endemic corruption to me. Very much like a new palace or two for the emperor, hunting lodges, luxury yachts and private jests for the most senior flunkies. Very much like gaming the system for the few at the expense of the many.

It's why the world looks more and more like a sleazy casino where the cards are marked, the dice weighted and the roulette wheel has a visible tilt. A world we once thought we'd gown out of where the rich and powerful run their scams, do their sordid deals and make off with the spoils while the peasants toil.

As peasants always have.

Yet toil isn't the right word these days is it? So what do we do, those of us not making the crooked deals or climbing the greasy pole? Are we gaming the system too, in our quiet way?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to say economics is not my field - I need matchsticks. What puzzles me is what makes a valid economy. If I make stone axes and exchange them for meat and veg and rent on a cave I understand. But if I hand out axes in exchange for promises not to burn down trees 1000s of miles away - well I get a bit lost and feel I am likely to starve.

Which brings me back to 'what makes a valid economy?' and I do worry now that the next village has figured how to make axes. Village wise guy says no worries, we sell marketing strategies and promises not to burn trees, we not starve say wise guy....

James Higham said...

Institutional insanity on such a scale looks very much like serious endemic corruption to me. Very much like a new palace or two for the emperor, hunting lodges, luxury yachts and private jests for the most senior flunkies. Very much like gaming the system for the few at the expense of the many.

Looks very much like that to me too.

A K Haart said...

Roger - I think you understand economics in much the same way as I do. Keep your axe sharp.

James - yes, I just get more and more suspicious. If that's possible.

Demetrius said...

If the alleged methane pockets under the Antarctic Ice get out who needs carbon? The basic problem is too many people wanting too much. Nature may solve that one for us.

A K Haart said...

Demetrius - if it ends up being flared off we'll see some global warming!