Market Clues

First of all, no one can reasonably deny that we have a broken capitalist system, run by and for cronies whose only aim is to destroy the middle class while making themselves fabulously wealthy. They easily pull the wool over the eyes of otherwise patriotic citizens who are loyal to and proud of their country despite the fact that the cronies who have taken it over don't give a gnat's eyelash in hell about America. The typical American is satisfied when a president like Bill Clinton raises taxes to "balance the budget" while selling the country down the river. To them, Clinton is a caring person and that's all that counts in their dumbed-down world.

One result of the crony system we have is that the government is the biggest part of the economy. That explains why more than half of the population of this country subsists on government handouts. The cronies actually planned it that way. Once they have 99% of the population on welfare — that's where we're headed — they will simply cut off support and let the masses fend for themselves while they laugh at them behind the fences of their heavily-guarded compounds. That day is coming and when it arrives, it will be too late to do anything about it.

One method the cronies use to influence the masses is to create fake "scientific" organizations that propagandize against Global Warming. Many otherwise rational individuals are fooled into thinking these organizations are on the up-and-up. But, so-called "global warming skeptics" are essentially charlatans funded by the super-wealthy. Why? So the super-wealthy can maintain their positions of privilege and power in our corrupt capitalist system. Money talks and when an element of doubt can be introduced into the public debate about what is an undeniable trend of man-made global warming, action to stop it can be derailed until that inevitable day of reckoning comes when it becomes clear to everyone that global warming is fact, not fiction. At that point, of course, it will be too late to stop the worst of the crisis from resulting in the deaths of the majority of humans on this planet.

James Hansen, the well-respected scientist who heads up NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University, has been trying to do something to warn the masses before it's too late. His latest is “Cowards in Our Democracies: Part 1” and here's an excerpt:

Today most media, even publicly-supported media, are pressured to balance every climate story with opinions of contrarians, climate change deniers, as if they had equal scientific credibility. Media are dependent on advertising revenue of the fossil fuel industry, and in some cases are owned by people with an interest in continuing business as usual. Fossil fuel profiteers can readily find a few percent of the scientific community to serve as mouthpieces -- all scientists practice skepticism, and it is not hard to find some who are out of their area of expertise, who may enjoy being in the public eye, and who are limited in scientific insight and analytic ability.

Distinguished scientific bodies such as national science academies, using the scientific method, can readily separate charlatans and false interpretations from well-reasoned science. Yet it seems that our governments and the public are not making much use of their authoritative scientific bodies. Why is that?

I believe that the answer, and the difficulty in communicating science to the public, is related to the corrosive influence of money in politics and to increased corporate influence on the media.

It is a tragic and frustrating situation, because when all the dots in the climate-energy story are connected it becomes clear that a common-sense pathway exists that would solve energy needs, stimulate the economy, and protect the future of young people. 1 As I discussed in "Storms of My Grandchildren", a gradually rising carbon fee should be collected from fossil fuel companies, with the money distributed uniformly to legal residents. This would stimulate the economy, making it more efficient by putting an honest price on fuels, incorporating their costs to society.

"Captains of industry" told me they would prefer such a course with knowledge of a steadily rising carbon price, which would stimulate innovations in efficiency and clean energies.

Despite the obstacles presented by the role of money in politics and by the huge advertising campaigns of the fossil fuel industry, the urgency of addressing the climate-energy issue demands that we do the best that we can to inform the public. One of the things we can do is try to expose how the public and our democracies are being manipulated for the benefit of those profiting from the public's fossil fuel addiction.

¹ The simple across-the-board fee on all fossil fuels would be collected at domestic mines or port-of-entry, with 100% of the money distributed to the public, via equal monthly electronic deposits to the bank account or debit card of all legal adult residents. More than 60% of the public would get more in their monthly dividend than they pay in increased energy prices. Knowledge that the carbon price will rise would affect decisions made by consumers, businesses and innovators. Economic models show that in 10 years fossil fuel emissions in the U.S. would decline 30%, which is equivalent to the oil carried by 13 Keystone XL pipelines – thus obviating the need to develop destructive energy sources such as tar sands, tar shale, and mountaintop removal.

It's long past time for the people to rise up and start transferring money from the fossil fuel companies into our bank accounts!

posted by Bob Carver  # 15:59