Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Democrat candidate Elizabeth Warren has stepped up efforts to discover new reasons to be outraged.
Warren calls on big U.S. banks for steps on climate risk
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a contender for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, is asking the biggest U.S. banks for details on their assessments of and preparations for risks related to global warming.
“To protect themselves and the economy from climate-driven catastrophes, large financial institutions must act quickly to address risks,” Warren, a frequent critic of big banks, said in letters sent on Tuesday to top executives at Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo.
“I write to ask for more information about the risks caused by the climate crisis on the financial industry and your institution’s practices, including what steps, if any, your institution is taking to adapt to mitigate these risks,” she said in the letters, provided to Reuters.
She asked for detailed written responses by Feb. 7.
…
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-warren/warren-calls-on-big-u-s-banks-to-disclose-preparation-for-climate-risk-idUSKBN1ZL1VQ
Warren has also demanded more anti-corruption investigations of President Trump, anyone who ever met President Trump, and probably anyone she doesn’t like who ever heard of President Trump.
The only investigation Elizabeth Warren has not called for is an examination of close family members of leading US politicians who received money from the Iranian Government, which might be because if US business links to Iran were investigated, Elizabeth Warren would face uncomfortable questions about her son in law.
Hopeless.
That’s also the plan.
Shouldn’t they also have plans for an asteroid impact? A general plan, and a special plan for an impact in Hollywood.
ROTFLMAO!
This is a farce. The banking system will collapse LONG before anything detectable happens to the Earth’s climate. Maybe they should plan for that instead.
Plan for a banking Collapse?
Greg they had a plan to CAUSE a collapse. It was The toxic mortgages created by Dodd/Frank to force banks to issue subprime equity based mortgages to unqualified buyers and then repackage the junk mortgages into REITs after passing them Off to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mad.
Personally I don’t think they planned to collapse the banking system, its just that these Morons, that we know affectionately as Swamp Creatures, are too stupid to understand what kind of damage they are capable of because they don’t know their poohole from a hole in the ground.
To say nothing of nuclear war, pandemic, super volcano, solar flare etc. Our benign unremarkable climate shouldn’t even be on the list.
“I write to ask for more information about the risks on the financial industry and your institution’s practices, including what steps, if any, your institution is taking to adapt to mitigate the risks of Elizabeth Warren becoming President,” she said in the letters, provided to Reuters.
If an asteroid impacts Hollywood, the plan is for a BBQ on the beach and an immediate upward revision of the average US IQ by 25 points.
Dear Ms Elizabeth Warren,
Thank you for your inquiry. Here is our bank’s climate risk plan:
“The full IPCC report is an admirable description of research activities in climate science, but it is not specifically directed at policy. The Summary for Policymakers is, but it is also a very different document. It represents a consensus of government representatives (many of whom are also their nations’ Kyoto representatives), rather than of scientists. The resulting document has a strong tendency to disguise uncertainty, and conjures up some scary scenarios for which there is no evidence.
Science, in the public arena, is commonly used as a source of authority with which to bludgeon political opponents and propagandize uninformed citizens. This is what has been done with both the reports of the IPCC and the NAS. It is a reprehensible practice that corrodes our ability to make rational decisions. A fairer view of the science will show that there is still a vast amount of uncertainty — far more than advocates of Kyoto would like to acknowledge…”
– Dr Richard S. Lindzen, Sloan Professor of Meteorology (retired), MIT
Scientists’ Report Doesn’t Support the Kyoto Treaty
Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2001
http://eaps.mit.edu/faculty/lindzen/OpEds/LindzenWSJ.pdf
Accordingly Ms Warren, we conclude that there is no real catastrophic human-made global warming or climate crisis. Should we encounter extra-cold or extra-hot days, we will give our employees the day off and provide them with essential necessities, including hot toddies or cold beer. That is our climate risk plan.
While we appreciate your inquiry, our bank would sincerely appreciate if you would concern yourself with real societal problems, both domestic and international, and not waste our time carping about “scary scenarios for which there is no evidence”.
Yours truly,
______________________________________
“The Friendly Bank”
That is a brilliant response, if only just one of them would have the balls to use it. Stand up for themselves for once just like Coca cola did in refusing to stop using plastic bottles for economic reasons.
Should they all have to post exigency plans in the case a Loonacrat gets elected?
She’s done anyway. Interesting question: If Bernie seems headed for victory as Biden collapses in a heap of corruption, will the Dems embrace Bloomberg?
We already know what Bernie Bros have planned for billionaires: breaking rocks in the gulag. Since most billionaires seem to be Dems, perhaps they will switch to Bloomy.
Only problem is Bloomberg doesn’t need more deep pocket donors, he needs more grass-roots-throwback-hipsters to jump on board
Sounds likely.
I would immediately sit down and draft a response spelling out how the respective financial institution is/would be affected by Climate mitigation regulations and what negative affect potential carbon fees and probable GND Wealth Transfer Schemes would have on future Returns on Investments. Making certain to include sections on how the economy will continue to be negatively affected by increasing energy costs associated with mandated use requirements for unreliable/intermittent/weather-dependent energy sources.
Bryan A: Very good suggestion. Unfortunately, bankers are more likely to focus-group with climate activists to find out which apology will cost the least.
On another subject, amazing you found a pic of Liz when she’s not hectoring some bernie, errr somebody. What does it say about her that she’s hypersensitive to being called a liar? That she KNOWS it?
If I was an owner of a Big Bank, I would write back and say to Elizabeth: “What climate crisis?” But that’s just me.
This is Warren’s governing style: Demands. She is an authoritarian behind that not-very-effective mask she wears. Corporations are right to be wary of her.
Love that last sentence, explains some of the outrage from the Dems re Suliamani’s demise.
Elizabeth Warren in her prose of – “You have money, I demand you spend it the way I want.”
Banks have money, most of it is ours.
A grumpy grandma in the White House. What’s not to like?
Can we have our little ice age temperatures back granny pleeeeease ??
I’m not a big Trump fan, but I hope he wins next year to help save us from morons like Fauxahontas.
They have something in common, they say the darndest things.
If even half the things President Trump said at Davos are true, he’s a better friend of the working person than any lying betraying Democrat.
Solemn Democrats on their procession to deliver articles of impeachment to the senate (and Warren).
Oh my. She even set a deadline of February 7 for their detailed responses. She is obviously a very important person in her mind.
Elizabeth Warren has apologized to the Cherokee Elders for claiming to be a Cherokee Indian. She claimed DNA proof to be 1/1000 part Cherokee. The great-great-great-grandfather of Elizabeth Warren was not married to a Cherokee but actually rounded up the Cherokee in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee to set them on the tragic ‘Trail of Tears’.
Elizabeth Warren’s latest loonie calls for the big U.S. banks to step up action on climate risk are even less credible or well-founded. If Elizabeth Warren was not one of the Democrat Untouchables, little men in White Coats would now be quietly escorting her off-stage,
Reparations might call for her scalp.
Her fear of [political] climate change is palpable.
Uhm, Elizabeth,
These institutions are bankrolling the monetzation of atmospheric gases.
The point is to make money from a non-crisis, silly, Fauxahontas.
https://phzoe.wordpress.com/2019/12/25/why-is-venus-so-hot/
https://phzoe.wordpress.com/2019/12/24/hot-plate-heat-lamp-and-gases-in-between/
Desperate hyping of the propaganda in the face of Trumpageddon. The Dems know they have to get those signatures to enforce climate lies- have them enshrined in legislation to escape the truth ever being revealed.
As for the banks, it is a waste of resources having to plug in false figures to create a fairytale story to fit the warmist agenda to in turn fit with the Dems political agenda which is based on lies and deception.
Is she referring to changes in long term weather trends or catastrophic changes in the political climate that she is determined to cause?
Just checked. Warren does sit on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee (which gave us forced subprime lending and the 2008 mortgage disaster). But, she is not even the ranking minority member. So has NO authority to issue such a unilateral demand letter.
The banks answer to her demands should be to pound sand.
She should provide her own money to develop these plans. I understand that she has no authority over the Cherokee Nation money. (Or over my money).
Uh Lizzy darling … How to put this gently. You may want to look into “geographical redundancy”. Just saying.
There have always been weather related disasters, they were and will be tragic.
However, Warren is depending on the gullible to believe that floods, wild fires, earthquakes etc in the news are new events with frequency and severity rapidly escalating.
Currently banks are not expected to provide “disaster plans” for extreme weather. Even if they were to bow to Sen Warren, they should only be asked to plan for events beyond what has been experienced in the past and which are the result of Climate CHANGE.
Miami was built almost 100 years ago below king tide. Granted it is sinking, but I think the residents and the banks can figure our how to cope with small fractions of an inch per year. (They can always ask those in the Netherlands.)
Banks should have disaster plans in place for the more likely event of her election.
Yes, that’s the worst case scenario. Thankfully, an unlikely outlier.
she’s going for the under 18 vote….
The Democrats already have the post biological vote locked up.
Banks: “Climate Disaster Plan? Lock the vault until given the all clear. It’s waterproof, fireproof, blizzard-proof, and tornado-proof. However, it’s not goof-proof, so don’t start fixing something that ain’t broken.”
Why do I think there must be some statistical fun to unearthed from this study?
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/jan-11-fires-in-australia-cuttlefish-watch-3d-movies-coal-pollution-harms-crops-and-more-1.5418816/the-cost-of-coal-pollution-takes-lives-but-also-costs-food-1.5418830
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0453-5.epdf?referrer_access_token=ehIFhedmeeSh9kY8eSYfodRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0M4FDzN_P9eq7R-5jYw5CvMwMs7tbs0rJ8USssv4vTnlc0bNMQ2KU-B97t0usxOHYDhuPKVFw3rmywtLqrafzxjhuCJAFVkNp48ej2hKJ4C6TfOweVH4Q5mUNhr74p2JF–SYOEKw4NhWw1zLxJsY1HmybWXmfOLUEEke5tG4pl_gWRBn1xB9HnfP5aQbVzI_x2fQ3f4xSjvgbB6Cnrc4APqP6DdQ2UxXlkVuZWDcwU8bCo6i0jJ2XP9bvbBq99KeFXr1K76C_HgJNGqus9xm6q7R0kypXg9FkJzcSSGKzd-lEPSqOGIFEY7AVS6dXhhM8yAGAbKP1SbqBNklzKZ6IxLOMmdtrMSYMv_5M9r8_tDyM6KRksROi0MET9DfI82l4%3D&tracking_referrer=www.cbc.ca
@TomRude,
Looking at “The Cost of Coal”, a huge chunk of the “lives saved” were in Las Vegas. A year after they started their study, the state of Nevada implemented the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act.
“… what steps, if any, your institution is taking to adapt to mitigate these risks”?
My simple response as ‘the bank’ is:
“We simply do not understand what your are asking/requiring. Was adapt intended as adopt? Please clarify your demand, and adjust your required dote of required response appropriately, based on the dote of your clarification. Thank you, and don’t hesitate to contoct us if you hove any questions.”
Nicely dane, DanM.
The Banks need to make disaster plans for the coming Economic Collapse brought on by themselves.
Sounds like she is worried her investments might tank.
If I was a bank CEO, I’d sit naked on a photocopier, take a picture of my butt, and mail that in as the company’s ‘climate disaster plan’. But that’s just me.
A wise cracker, eh?
You guys have waaaay more interesting politics than us down under. Warren is a complete caricature of a real human being. It’s almost like her home in in the Uncanny Valley. She has told many interesting stories over the years about being fired for being pregnant, sending her kids to private school, Bernie’s comment about female POTUS viability, and her native American heritage. Any one of those would have seen her resign in shame from Aussie politics, and yet she soldiers on. Remarkable.
There are a lot lof known liars among Democrats in Congress. This character flaw doesn’t seem to prevent them from being reelected.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) comes to mind. He lied and claimed he served in Vietnam. Trump calls him “Da Nang Dick”.
Da Nang Dick claimed he served and stole the honor of those who actually did, and this blatant lie is known far and wide, yet he keeps getting reelected.
To me, being a known liar, would automatically disqualify you from recieving my vote, but apparently that’s not the case with the majority of people in Connecticut. They must see some advantage in employing a known liar, that I don’t see.
As a Australian I find the present Democrat party a bit odd. I am a fan of FDR, but I cannot see him liking today’s party.
He FDR was all for the working class . Elizabeth does not seem to be interested in anything other than power.
NJE VK5ELL
t
FDR said he was for the working class. Unfortunately his policies were a disaster for the working class. (And everyone else as well.)
The Bank of America can respond to Senator Warren, “ Read our 2018 Annual Report and the Bank’s Environmental Social and Governance Highlights.”
The issue for the Bank and Senator Warren is that the ESG Highlights merely indicate how climate change ‘issues’ are being addressed by the Bank NOT that a “Climate Crisis” is recognised and addressed.
So, from the ESG Highlights,-
Business.
“ On Track”for $125 billion in lending by 2025 for low carbon and other sustainable investment.
Greenhouse gases and energy.
“On track” for
(a) Carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2020,
(b) Purchase 100% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
What further commitment does the Senator want from a Bank?
Today’s risk to banks is the incredible financial bubble whereby by probity has gone, replaced by recklessness.
That’s with commercial deposit banks, Wall Street banks and central banks.
All under the economic delusion that the Fed through currency and interest rate manipulations can prevent recessions.
This was the boast by the original promoters of the Federal Reserve System when it was formed in 1913.
According to the NBER, there has been 18 recessions since then.
Clearly the distorted world of intrusive economics needs a Richard Feynman.
Climate Change, Global Warming or whatever they are calling it now is no risk to sound banking.
Easy
Plan A. If the sea levels rise, the banks will go under.
Plan B. An opportunity for money laundering
I would rather that Snook or Emperor Palpatine became president than that monster.
So you are a Bernie fan ? 😉
Dominique de Villepin strongly opposed the war in Irak. He was loved in France for that, and also in the Arab countries. (I still don’t know if that opposition was strategically sound as the status in Afghanistan seems at least as wrecked and hopeless as in Irak if not more, and the French opposition to invading Irak was rooted in the support of invading Afghanistan and the opposition between Islamic terrorism support in Afghanistan and “neutrality” and “laïcité” of Saddam.)
Dominique de Villepin did not oppose Irak war because the idea of nation building is silly (the idea that the US would help build an army in “occupied” “countries” was loooved in France) but because a lot of French politicians from the extreme left to the extreme right were still in love with Baasist Saddam and his religious neutrality and separation of state and religion (lol)).
And now I see this:
https://ripostelaique.com/pourquoi-le-qatar-donne-t-il-beaucoup-dargent-a-lavocat-debutant-villepin.html
In just a year (2008-2009), 2 455 000 € were paid to Villepin International, and his benefit was 1 529 000 €. And Dominique de Villepin was a lawyer since… 2008, that same year. He made a million in his first year as a lawyer. Can you say genius?
(In comparison Hunter Biden seems to be doing minimal wages in Ukraine. He needs some help.)
I would think that banks would do what they always do in times of crisis: go to the government and demand a bailout or else.
In Australia, the Govn’t in 2017 IIRC implemented something called “bail-in” laws. What this means is that if there is another 2008 style GFC the banks can raid bank accounts/investments/pensions funds etc etc to prop up the system WITHOUT having to go cap-in-hand to the Govn’t/taxpayer for a bailout. So, keeping money under the bed isn’t such a bad idea after all. Some people are buying gold etc because there is a very real risk that money will be worthless. Never happened before has it? /Sarc off
Dear Liz,
We are donating heavily to your opposition. We plan to keep doing so as long as necessary.
Thanks,
-the bank
Climate Disaster: Imposing Paris Accords on the US economy, The Plan: avoid donating to Democrats
p.s.
Does your outdated, retouched official photo constitute lying to the public? Just curious.
Very truly still not yours,
-the bank
The bankers will be breaking their necks to comply. Bankers are rent-seekers. Like the vast lot of corporate America, bankers, as a whole, have no principles. They will be glad to do what she asks.
If not for banks, where would Warren keep all the money she’s grifted over the years?
Dear Ms Warren, Thank you for your question. The plan is to allow our staff to undo their top button and loosen their ties slightly, that should allow them to stay cool given the less than 1 degree increase in heat.
Lots of love
The Big Banks
I think I would have written back, “We plan to follow the lead of President Trump and the Senate, who feel that making such plans is premature and likely unnecessary. Should you persuade the President and your colleagues that they are in error, we will revisit this issue.”
Put this political ball firmly back in her court.
I’m wondering what Warren’s Climate Disaster Plan is. Will she suddenly claim to be part mermaid in hopes that the rising seas will accept her instead of drowning her?
There is only one climate crisis the banks can see and that is the crisis in missing out making money, literally, from thin air. Insurance companies are on to it too.
Lieawatha first needs to develop a “disaster plan” for her imploding presidential campaign….
Isn’t the plan “rake in every cent we can from trading in carbon credits”?
Here’s a response I’d like to see:
Dear Senator Warren:
Among many other provisions we have prepared to address potential climate disasters, we plan to foreclose on the loan we made to former President Obama to purchase property obviously threatened by sea level rise. We have determined that he did not properly disclose this risk when he applied for the loan.
Don’t forget to include the costs of making contingency plans for things like [Human Caused] Climate Change which will never occur in any measurable way. Developing plans for something which will never happen is normally called foolishness and is not tolerated by auditors.
What will large financial institutions do to protect their shareholders from government-driven catastrophes following the possible election of Senator Warren?
Dear Elizabeth,
Thanks for the advice. We had a brief look at sea level and temperature trends, had a good laugh, and came up with a plan, carefully weighing our responsibility to protect and grow the assets of our customers and shareholders. I’m sure you can appreciate that we are a bank after all. Our plan is to do nothing. Adaptation is what humans do best. It has worked well for thousands of years and we’re sticking with a proven strategy.
By the way, did you know sea level rises slower than a saguaro cactus grows? Neither did we. Our board was wondering how you get worked up about that.
Sincerely,
Puzzled in Portland
Simpels. There exists no climate crisis therefore there are no risks attached to it.
6 sandbags for the front door and a fire extinguisher in case the pot plants self combustion!
Dear Madam,
To experience weather of 2C degrees cooler we could move our operations 175 miles further from the equator “adapting” to up to 2C degrees of warming. Or we could “adapt” by moving our location to a 500 foot higher altitude.
Regards,
Xavier Y Zebulon
President and CEO
West Bank of the Mississippi
And I demand Pocahontas to repay the stipend she got under false pretenses!
Besides, I would advise her to check the latest studies that claim temperatures have fallen slightly during the last decades:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379119307905
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37603-6
I’ve taken the liberty of drafting a form letter for the banks to use.
I won’t even charge them for using it.
“Dear Pocahontas,
Since there is currently no “climate crisis,” and the likelihood of such a “crisis” being caused by CO2 levels, much less the minuscule human contribution thereto, is akin to the likelihood that Haiti will start a nuclear war within the next ten years, there is no “step” that need to be taken to “mitigate” these purely imaginary risks.
If the American people are foolish enough to elect you or one of the other clowns running for the Democratic presidential nomination, however, we will be more than happy to enrich ourselves from the carbon trading scams that will ensue.
Very truly ours,
[Fill in name] Bank”
/Sarc On
The Banks programs should at a minimum include the following:
1. Not write mortgages for homes within thirty feet vertically of the high tide mark to avoid losses due to sea level rise. Danish banks would be allowed to write farm loans in Greenland.
2. Not fund construction of residential buildings north of the 39th parallel due to lack of electrical heat on still winter nights. Not write mortgages for the resale of homes heated by fire (humanity’s most elegant invention) whether oil, nat gas or wood that releases CO2.
3. Relocate critical bank offices and infrastructure out of coastal cities, particularly those dependent on subterranean transportation (subways and vehicle parking. This would include Manhattan and Boston. To further reduce flood risk from increasingly severe hurricanes, it would also include all of coastal Florida and Washington D.C. (Federal Reserve).
4. Implement computer and communications systems that will support bank operations with intermittent
availability of electrical power. Undocumented Asian immigrants with abacus experience will be made available.
5. Develop business plans to function under Modern Monetary Theory as necessary to fund Green New Deal. Green is a monetary reference, not an ecologic one.
/Sarc Off
Easy, pull out the plan they did for Y2K, and do a bunch of “find and replace”….
Here’s the response banks should give her:
“I’m gonna get me, um, a beer”
I am a lawyer by training. I can keep my composure in many situations that would feel uncomfortable for most people. I have been used many times to unlock very uncomfortable situations by clients and the companies I worked for. But Elisabet Warren is a mystery to me. She has been busted so many times, even I would hide under a rock in her place. Still, she is out there lashing out on anyone who meets her fancy while still ding the exact opposite of what she says. I know that all politicians lie, I don’t expect anything else from them no matter where on the political spectrum they are. But some specimens still manage to astonish me.
As long as she has supporters ….
Maybe lies and goofiness, expected, are easier for the typical human to forgive than unexpected lies. For politicians there is a curve with respect to lies/goofiness, like the Laffer curve, but skewed a bit more to one side, where “no lies” or “all lies” will produce no loyal followers.
Y=Xo + bx c(X)^2; where Y=followers & X=lies/goofiness;
Integrate the curve with respect to lies and solve for Y’=0; Warren’s staff apparently thinks that this solution shows X < X' and they need to tell more lies.
The only sensible response from the banks to Lieawhatha is to use the very precise, technical financial term: GFY!
Dear Pocahontas:
We understand that you may have implied prestige and clout as a result of having a vagina but we haven’t seen it yet. As there are a lot of imposters these days we need to see the proof. Please provide that proof of your credentialed vagina as we wish to remain Politically Correct and all inclusive of just about anything or anyone and need documentation for our files that you really are what you claim to be. As chairman of the board I will personally assure you that you will have the opportunity to lay your credentials out on the table for the board members to see. If further action is required I will arrange for you show your credentials at the next stock holders meeting. That should convince them of what you’ve got, what they will be facing, and that you mean business!
Warren championed the cause against banks during the financial crisis in part caused by “Linda Green” who robosigned crap Mortgage Backed Securities.
Needless to say, Pocahontas cashed in buying up foreclosures at the time as did Susan Collins among others, whilst badhing the banksters.
https://www.nrsc.org/press-releases/elizabeth-warren-foreclosure-queen-2017-01-30/
Hypocrisy 101. Time to really drain the swamp.
When the ANC took over South African government, they put a national ‘Affirmative Action’ law in place. All companies had to produce an AA plan. The small software house where I then worked, stated that their plan was “We hire anyone who can do the job”. It was rejected. So, basically, when a government tries to force ANY sort of plan on working companies, it usually means that they want to change market-related ways to something that is more ‘politically correct’.