Climate Wars: Nick Stern Threatens U.S. With Trade Boycott
Ben Webster
The United States will be banned from selling goods to many countries if it continues to shirk its promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to the world’s leading climate change economist.
In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said that nations that were taking strong action on emissions could start imposing restrictions on “dirty” US exports by 2020.
Lord Stern, who advises several G20 leaders and is one of the key players in the international negotiations seeking a deal on emissions, made his comments ten days before the annual United Nations climate change conference opens in Cancun, Mexico. They reflect the feeling in many countries that a lack of action on emissions in the US is delaying progress in the talks.
…
Lord Stern said that Europe and the Far East (sic) were forging ahead of the US in controlling emissions and switching to low carbon sources of energy. They would not tolerate having their industries undermined by American competitors that had not paid for their emissions. “If you are charging properly for carbon and other people are not, you will take that into account,” he said. “Many of the more forward-looking people in the US are thinking about this. If they see a danger on the trade front to US exports that could influence public discussion.”
Asked what type of US products could face restrictions, Lord Stern said: “Aircraft, clearly, some cars, machine tools — it’s not simply what’s in the capital good, it’s what kind of processes the capital good is facilitating.”
Lord Stern said that a complete ban on some goods was also possible. He said the American people should overcome their historical antipathy to taxation and accept that emissions needed to be controlled either through a tax or a trading scheme.
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Lubos is correct (this was in our national press recently) the US remains the UK’s biggest customer, so we’re hardly likely to allow any trade war which wouldn’t be to the UK’s benefit! This nonsense from Stern should have been taken with the contempt it deserves, not taken seriously.
“…Lord Stern said that Europe and the Far East (sic) were forging ahead of the US in controlling emissions and switching to low carbon sources of energy. They would not tolerate having their industries undermined by American competitors that had not paid for their emissions…. “
Um? Have I got this right? The US is going to UNDERCUT Chinese industry costs if it doesn’t tax it’s people ‘properly’?
Has Stern no idea of the differential in production costs between the two places? Does he understand how large the projected taxes would have to be for this to be true? Where is this La-La land that Stern so obviously inhabits? Can I have some of whatever he’s smoking…?
Stern is supposed to be an economist, he is certainly not a scientist.
Stern is coming out with as mush rubbish as Holdren and Hansen. They must email each other, and then delete them of course.
Stern is totally bonkers, a defining trait that is a primary requirement for all those holding public office in the UK.
Does anyone take this preposterous little man seriously?
Consultant to G20? Surely only as court jester.
the poor bugger was born with no brains god bless him he will need all the help
@ur momisugly Ray says:
“After England pillaged the world (back then…) now they want to redistribute other people’s wealth. Lord Stern needs to be reminded that India and Canada are part of the Empire, the Commonwealth. Those measures won’t go very far and fall in the Thames waters.”
England (you really mean Britain) did not “pillage the world.” Enormous sums of British money were invested in countries all over the world. Some economic historians think it would have been better for the UK if some of that money had been invested at home. It was not just the British Empire that benefited. During the 19th century the United States was greatly aided in its development by British capital and technology. Up until World War I Britain was the main foreign investor in much of South America.
Lord Stern by no means reflects British public opinion. He is just somebody who provides some sort of economic justification for the more extreme policies of the Green movement. Unfortunately the government does tend to listen to him because they think that cultivating a green image is good for their popularity.
However, not all Lord Stern’s ideas should be dismissed. If you really want to eliminate the human contribution to increases in CO2 levels then boycotting goods from the United States would help, but it would not be enough. Every nation should boycott every other nation. The resulting economic crisis would lead to a global shutdown of industry and drastic reductions in CO2 emissions.
If Britain doesn’t change it ways soon and stop drinking the green cool-aid I don’t think it will even be around in 2020.
So the EU should carry out a trade embargo against the rest of the world? Hmmm.
_Jim says:
November 19, 2010 at 6:22 pm
” From another of Gail’s tall-tales:
You are about one hundred years too late. The Brits (Bank of England) sent Paul Warburg to confiscate all of the wealth from the USA and has …
Oh brother more tales from ‘the far side’ … re: ‘confiscation’, please explain Michael Dell, Bill Gates, The “Oracle of Omaha” (Buffet) ?”
___________________________________________________________
I see the banker’s shill is at it again taking pot shots without backing up his position.
For anyone who is confused about what has been going on since the bankers grabbed control of the US dollar in 1913 here is a bit more info:
The transfer of WEALTH (not fiat currency) has been from the poor and middle class to the rich. Yes some people have managed to move from middle class to rich but the doors have been increasingly shut in the faces of the average citizen for the last century. In the 1950’s you could babysitter, clean a house or do any number of jobs without having a master degree in business law and tax accounting. Now thanks to various tax laws designed to “protect the worker” (snicker) you have to work for an employment agency who charges $100 for your labor and pays you $10 with no benefits. (Actual fact from a disgruntled Technical Writer) You can not even take travel expense off your taxes because you are now an “employee” and not an independent business person.
That is what all the increasing regulations are about such as the EPA, OSHA, USDA, and now the new regs requiring a 1099 to be filled out every time a small business spends over $600 buying supplies at any one vendor. (It take me around 15 minutes per 1099 – IF the vendor is willing to give me his Social Security number or EIN)
SEE: 1099 tax rule may bring big pain to small business http://blogs.reuters.com/deep-pocket/2010/10/20/1099-tax-rule-may-bring-big-pain-to-small-business/
Another new nasty that effects my next door neighbor is this one:
FDA Estimates Vendor Compliance With Calorie Disclosure Rules Will Require 14 Million Hours Annually; NAMA Petitions For Relief http://www.vendingtimes.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=EB79A487112B48A296B38C81345C8C7F&nm=Vending+Features&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=32C0EEC712E74BC88710FE3C98EFE99F
And just in case you wonder about the impact on the average citizen:
Small businesses employ about half of U.S. workers. Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics
Small firms:
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ half of all private sector employees.
• Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.
• Create more than half of the nonfarm private GDP.
• Hire 43 percent of high tech workers (scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and others).
• Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
• Made up 97.5 percent of all identified exporters and produced 31 percent of export value in FY 2008.
• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.
http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf
R. de Haan pointed to an article that list the newest additions to the Banking/Corporate Cartels attempt to get rid of the competition:
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30140
To see that I am not crazy all you have to do is look at what has happened to the value of fiat currency vs gold (the real monetary standard) and the minimum wage.
I quoted this:
“In 1976 A typical American CEO earned 36 times as much as the average worker. By 2008 the average CEO pay increased to 369 times that of the average worker.” http://timelines.ws/subjects/Labor.HTML
Here is the independent back up:
In 1976:
gold= $124.74/oz, Money supply=$113 billion, min wage=$2.30 or 0.0184oz gold & CEO =0.663oz
In 2008:
gold=$880.30/oz, Money supply=$831 billion, min wage=$5.85 or 0.0066 oz gold & CEO =2.44oz
Note how the price of gold and the money supply both rose by about factor of eight. The CEO real salary, in gold, increased by over a factor of 3.5 times. But look what happened to the factory worker. He had an illusionary doubling of his wage in fiat money when actually it was DECREASED to 1/3 of what his counter part was making in GOLD in 1976.
This is how the bankers and corporate CEOs are stealing the wealth of the poor and middle class by stealth using a combination of highly inflated prices for goods and wages that do not keep pace.
And now the money supply has over DOUBLED during Obama’s reign.
Money Supply: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/BOGUMBNS.txt
Gold price: http://www.finfacts.ie/Private/curency/goldmarketprice.htm
Min Wage: http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm
The financial instability of the US dollar and the US economy has not gone unnoticed over seas:
“The global creditors for the US Treasury Bonds are so angry at the past suffered losses, the prospect of deep future losses, and the corruption laced throughout the US financial system, that they have hired third parties to kill off the US$-gold platforms…” http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/comex-gold-price-manipulation-stress-near-breaking-point/
“The Germans have demanded that gold bullion held in US custodial accounts be returned to their owners, with physical gold shipped back to Germany. The Dubai bankers have demanded that gold bullion held in London custodial accounts be returned to their owners, with physical gold shipped back to the United Arab Emirates. They are following the hired German counsel. In all likelihood, neither US nor London sources are in possession of all the gold held in those custodial accounts, since at least some of it probably was improperly leased. By that is meant without owner permission or knowledge. So an uproar could come soon with charges of gold bullion theft, or at least failure of fiduciary responsibility. Theft is a simpler description.” http://news.goldseek.com/GoldenJackass/1243519200.php
“Hong Kong is pulling all its physical gold holdings from depositories in London, transferring them to a high-security depository newly built at the city’s airport, in a move that won praise from local traders Thursday.” http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hong-kong-recalls-gold-reserves-from-london-2009-09-03
Remember the Bankers and the Communists/Socialist are “good friends” because none want ” national auto-determination” they all want a world controlled by them. As Daniel Estulin said in his Bilderberg Speech at EU Parliament Press Conference http://beforeitsnews.com/story/73/389/Transcript_Video_Daniel_Estulin_Bilderberg_Speech_at_EU_Parliament_Press_Conference.html
“Not One World Government or New World Order as too many people mistakenly believe. Rather, the ideology is of a ONE WORLD COMPANY LIMITED.”
O/T: Writing as a proud Englishman, I would have very much preferred that we had become a US State,
That, my friend, would have been awesome.
UK Sceptic says:
November 20, 2010 at 2:12 am
Stern is totally bonkers, a defining trait that is a primary requirement for all those holding public office in the UK.
And a prerequisite for elevation to our peerage. There is nothing noble about a political appointee to the current House of Venality.
Only read a few comments but I can tell Nick’s got the USA really rattled!
/sarc
Sorry folks, we have some real idiots here. What a prat!
DaveE.
I see Stern as stereotypical.
Therefore, the level of any British AGW advocate’s credibility was best assessed by Star Trek’s Doc McCoy, “Its dead Jim”.
John
I take it this predicted boycott of 10 years in the future is having trouble finding its wings.
Meanwhile back here on the ranch, we have a white winter wonderland. The sun shines and its 25F as snow covers the immediate valley and the mountains beyond both East and West. Whats not to like? I suppose one can also go to Cancun if one desires some relative warmth.
From another apologetic and embarrassed brit: what is it about us, perhaps many centuries condemned to polite small-talk about the weather have finally driven us to climate insanity. We have some spectacular examples:
David “Lord” King, former (get this!) CHIEF GOVT SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR – “in a few years we will have to send breeding couples to the Antarctic to preserve the human race from AGW”.
Moron.
(“sweet”) Fanny Armstrong: The 10-10 “no pressure” film.
Moron.
+ many others I’m sure you could name…
And now, Lord Stern: “lets boycott the whole USA!”
Moron.
Lets not leave out old Fizza, Phil Jones:
“Delete all emails…”
“Mike’s Nature trick…”
“hooray! – John Daly just died!”
“hide the decline…”
“lets purge the IPCC review committee…”
This guy’s not stupid, just evil.
“Bullying won’t win any friends to his side.” – JudyW
So true. This puts me in mind of the time the Guardian provided instructions and inspiration for it’s UK readers to write to Ohio residents to beg them to vote against Bush.
It backfired – Bush carried Ohio and the election with thanks to the Guardian.
We should give Lord Stern’s threats the widest possible circulation.
British Lords should be taken with a big pinch of salt.
Of course Lord Monckton is a bit of a hero around here, though he shouldn’t be.
Andy
————–
Robert A,
Yes, Stern’s position can only weaken an already tenuous AGW position. Their credibility is destroyed incrementally with each repetition of his/their bizarre credo/dogma.
John
James Sexton says:
November 19, 2010 at 10:42 pm
“The people you mentioned, have relatively very little tangible value. Most of their wealth is tied to the value of the market shares of their respective companies.”
Michael Dell owns or controls 221 million shares of Dell stock which at $14/sh is about $3 billion. His net worth is estimated at $14 billion. He is well diversified in his investment portfolio and has been for many years. Hopefully you’re not in the habit in making things up out of thin air but you certainly did in this case.
John F. Hultquist says:
November 19, 2010 at 10:20 pm
I drink hardly any whisky and on the rare occasions when I do it’s from Kentucky.
beesaman says:
November 19, 2010 at 3:32 pm
“Sorry but posts like Dave Springer’s should have no place on a site like this. Not funny, not necessary and deeply hurtful to Brits who lost family in WW2.”
A great many Americans lost family in WWII including myself. My father was a tail gunner in a B-26 Marauder (medium bomber) based out of England. He survived 25 bombing runs over occupied Europe and Germany. He was one of the lucky ones. Get off your high horse. 420,000 American servicement lost their lives fighting YOUR war. Total UK casualties including civilians was 450,000. We poured as much blood into that conflict as the UK and far more treasure. Europeans who forget the debt they owe to the United States deserve our contempt.
@Anthony
Just a suggestion but there’s a WordPress feature where authors can turn off comments for an article. This article is a poster child for why that feature exists. Consider it next time you decide to instigate a war of words across the pond.
REPLY: And consider getting your own blog if you want to run one. – Anthony
I know that the good Lord Monckton has too much class to snipe at anyone, but I would love to know what he is thinking about this two-bit “Lord”.
When is your Parlament going to reverse itself regarding the hereditary peerages, or is it waiting for the EU to tell it what to do? At least the hereditary lords were given a proper education.
Where is Gilbert and Sullivan when we need them?
“Oh a British tar is a soaring soul, as free as a mountain bird”
“His ever ready fist is ready to resist a dictatorial word”.
So let me get this straight. Some guy with a British sounding name wants to tax us over here without the people’s consent. Yeh Lord Stupid. That’s a good idea.