Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t M; There have been some surprisingly climate skeptic Wall Street Journal articles lately, at least in terms of hilighting the obvious flaws of big government subsidised climate “solutions”.
Why Pretend Green Pork Will Stop Climate Change?
Because organized groups and politicians want the money, and the public wants to be a sucker.
By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.Follow
July 29, 2022 6:07 pm ETLies told by government officials provoke little concern from the public until voters encounter a consequence: That mask or vaccine didn’t prevent you from being infected by Covid. You can’t keep your doctor. The half-trillion dollars you were asked to spend on climate change didn’t stop climate change.
Take the Joe Manchin-sponsored climate compromise coming together in the U.S. Senate. Despite panegyrics in the press, this euphoric proposal amounts to exactly the sort of subsidy regime the National Academy of Sciences in 2013, after a similar splurge, judged to be a “poor tool for reducing greenhouse gases and achieving climate-change objectives.”
One analysis pinpointed in the fewest possible words why: “Alternative energy is not replacement energy.”
Such packages are sold on the public’s faulty intuition that an erg of green energy consumed is an erg of fossil energy that stays in the ground. But it does not follow. The most widely celebrated paper in recent years on the economics of climate change concludes that green-energy subsidies mostly just increase total energy consumption rather than displace fossil fuels. The impact on CO2 and temperatures is “minuscule,” according to Princeton’s José Luis Cruz Álvarez and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg.
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But the saddest sound effect is the claim by the Senate bill’s admirers that China, India and other emitters will be so impressed with the Manchin compromise that they will fall in the line.
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Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-pretend-green-pork-will-stop-climate-change-alternative-energy-global-warming-lies-government-officials-11659129705
I hope Wall Street Journal continues this trend of shooting climate change sacred cows – its about time mainstream media started to do a little actual journalism, instead of just accepting whatever left wing politicians say as gospel.
I agree with the journalist Holman W. Jenkins, that believing that the West can lead others with their climate insanity is one of the strangest aspects of the climate movement.
This belief in climate leadership is certainly not unique to green politicians in the USA. European politicians frequently speak of “climate leadership”, they think they are influencing the world to follow their climate action.
So far the only part of the world which has allowed itself to be completely led down the garden path by American and European greens is Sri Lanka. Poor countries might get a lot of things wrong, but after the Sri Lanka fiasco, finding another poor nation sucker willing to fully embrace the Western green roadmap could be a challenge, no matter how much funding or international recognition is on offer.
Success is what others follow and try to copy. The success of the industrial revolution spread throughout the world. The success of capitalism overturned the Soviet Union and Maoist communism – only a handful of miserable holdouts like North Korea completely refuse to embrace private enterprise, and even they intermittently allow private markets.
The energy shortages and economic pain green Europe and green energy obsessed parts of the USA are currently suffering are not a template for success.
Good report. The CAGW Insanity (spending other people’s money) suffers from a series of Reality checks. China will not do anything that damages them and will do whatever will weaken the West, the cost of adaption is never compared to the cost of “prevention”, and there is no anthropogenic signal detectable against the variation of normal climate cycles. Maybe a small amount of hope people are waking up? Hello?
The one child policy harmed China.
Xi’s attempts to re-implement communism have been harming China.
The focusing of capital into unneeded housing projects is harming China.
I regard Charles Mackay’s 1841 seminal observation as hope that an Enlightenment can and will happen in the near future –
I am afraid it may not happen. People may not wake up in time.
The most comparable episode, the Xhosa cattle killing and crop destruction frenzy of 1856-7, took place after a great deal of resistance to it. This was eventually overcome by advocates and the population participated. The result was an entirely predictable famine which killed at least a third of the Xhosa.
CAGW is heading in the same direction. A bunch of irrational zealots keep agitating and gradually convert more and more of the political establishment who are not true believers but who go along to get along. The irrational measures advocated are then implemented more or less willingly, and the result is the entirely predictable disaster.
I am afraid this is where we are going. All based on the fantasy of the climate emergency, global heating, the idea that renewables can support power demand, and that they will actually reduce emissions. The destruction of viable generating capacity while providing no alternative. And as the head post notes, the completely illusory idea that the UK or the US cutting emissions is somehow going to influence China and India to do the same.
We are going to see, in the UK and Germany, the real consequences of trying to implement these crazed fantasies. Its going to be a long hard winter with worse to come. And the political consequences when it dawns on the voters what a pup they have been sold may be quite extreme.
It’s like all the world’s governments are standing at the edge of a cliff and the US, EU and Australia are saying “We all have to jump to save the world.” Russia, China and India are saying “You first”.
After you jump, I will go have a barbecue and cold beer.
👍
Russia, China and India don’t need to say anything
We’ve volunteered to be crash test dummies
“It won’t work unless we all jump.”
John Kerry has been spending large amounts of time trying to convince “China, India and other emitters” that they must fight climate change.
None have been fooled by Kerry and every serious emitter outside of Europe/Americas has said absolutely no! to Kerry.
It takes true delusion to believe these countries will fall in love with a silly “Joe Manchin-sponsored climate compromise”.
Sadly, that is perhaps what most denotes/identifies climate alarmists, is their willingness to believe in their own fantasies regarding energy delusions and moral virtue signaling. Everyone sane recognizes alarmist egocentric narcissistic delusions as self centered demands for attention and money that burden civilization with ridiculous non-solutions.
When will the FBI be knocking on (breaking down) Mr. Jenkins door?
Does halting climate change also halt change in weather? Best to not mess with it as if they could except for the availability of energy.
The WSJ regular opinion writers** are realists, but the Journal does print other views — think John Kerry. News articles, in contrast to the opinion pages, often include climate cult nonsense. It is sometimes hard to tell if the person writing the article has knowledge of climate change issues or whether such language has become inserts much like spell-checking software anticipating you wanted junket when junk food was intended.
Of course, these inserts can be ignored, but they are not a good sign.
**regular opinion writers are listed under the “opinion” tab on the Journal’s home page
The article the FP quoted was by Holman Jenkins, one of WSJ’s regular opinion writers who is a very smart cookie.
They also frquently print pieces by Bjorn Lomborg, WWUT’s favorite economist.
Yes, I have corresponded with Mr. Jenkins and he is indeed very smart, but ergs? He’s still in the cgs era.
Some observations.
Good that at least the opinion pages of WSJ are waking up. The energy and food inflation in the long run is BAD for Wall Street. The Fed ‘raise interest rates’ response normally tanks stocks and bonds. Doing that during a recession is doubly bad. Only FJB ‘thinks’ we’re not in one now after two quarters of declining GDP; another sign of his befuddlement.
Only a fool like Kerry ‘thinks’ exhibiting green leadership will persuade India and China to also commit economic suicide.
The Manchin ‘deal’ is not what it seems on the surface. In return for supporting Schumer, he extracted a promise from Schumer, Pelosi, and Biden to expedite fossil fuel extraction permits nationally and have the EPA ease off on coal (WV benefits from shale gas). The thinking is that if they double cross him on this ( not part of misnamed ‘Inflation Reduction’ bill—separate yet to come legislation), he will switch parties and throw the Senate to the Republicans in advance of Jan 3 2023.
The deal is NOT done. The bill includes elimination of the carried interest tax provision on private equity funds. Sinema is on written record opposing its elimination (which the Dems attempted to do and failed). And, given some of the green climate provisions, there is some doubt whether the Senate Parliamentarian will approve its passage via budget reconciliation ( no cloture), for which the Senate has strict rules otherwise preserving 60 vote cloture. If she insists some of the green crud be removed for mere reconciliation, Schumer is up the creek without a paddle.
“ promise” 😉
Let’s hope Sinema torpedoes this latest product of the sausage factory.
It’s full of crap.
No legislation is better than bad legislation.
“No legislation is better”
There, fixed it for you.
Thanks, Rud. The glowing stories in the press of the great compromise made it sound like the fossil-fuel provisions were in the IRA.
“If they’re putting things in, then we can put something out, even if Manchin doesn’t like it.”
While Manchin may have found a “deal” with Schumer, he may want to
keep an eye on Pelosi, especially after her statement above (it was
part of rambling comments on a video cited in the article).
Being the cynic that I am with DC politics, at the end of the day,
both Manchin & Sinema are just two of the many actors reciting
their usual scripts, & know how far they can push things before
suffering political damage. After all the hubbub, we, the taxpayers,
get taken to the cleaners. Manchin’s “deal” supposedly makes the
GOP look like chumps on the $250B chip bill that passed before
the “deal” was announced, but were they really? It’s an election yr
& pork buys votes, as well as paying off corporate contributors!
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/07/nancy-pelosi-explains.php
Maybe even China will get a taste from the Chip bill, with the
Big Guy getting 10%, too!
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/07/chips-the-china-syndrome.php
Breitbart-
Chinese Company Behind TikTok to make Computer Chips
“In return for supporting Schumer, he extracted a promise from Schumer, Pelosi, and Biden to expedite fossil fuel extraction permits nationally and have the EPA ease off on coal (WV benefits from shale gas). “
When has the Devil ever kept a promise?
let’s hope that Manchin follows through on his threat when they don’t.
A “promise” from Schumer (based on a wink, nod, and handshake or fist bump) is not worth the paper it’s not written on. He and his ilk could convince Manchin to vote yes on the Mini-Green New Deal and then renege on expediting fossil fuel permits, or they could pass something in Congress and Biden could simply veto it or refuse to implement it. Meanwhile, the bill currently being proposed also increases taxes on coal, which would cripple the economy in Manchin’s home state of West Virginia. Manchin has been snookered, and we might have to depend on Sinema and/or the parliamentarian to save the part of the energy economy that Biden hasn’t already killed.
May I suggest replacing the dog in the cartoon by a knight riding on a donkey (representing the Democrats)? The cartoon could be titled “Donkey Hotay and the Windmills” (hat tip to Miguel Cervantes).
I don’t expect anything like this appearing on the BBC anytime soon.
Models show what the BBC will say until 2100…
2100 hrs. or the year?
Definitely year
Somehow I don’t think any Democrat will be in sight when a major U.S. city is told to take cold showers in order to save energy. But there will instead be calls to lynch grid operators, power plant managers, and pipeline operators.
Don’t look up…..
Blade falls off wind turbine in Gloucester | Wind Energy News (wind-watch.org)
It was a German Kenersys K100 wind turbine on the Applied Materials/Varian semiconductors site. It’s the only turbine on the site so presumably supplying power to the industrial site only. Thankfully it fell off within the site itself and no-one was injured. And yes, I am being a nerdy turbine spotter, looking up the manufacturer – ever since I found out about GE having a bad rep for a high failure rate, I’ve started trying to find out the make and model of the failed turbines.
My view is that 1) Holman Jenkins is quite right in saying there is no reason to expect a politically and ideologically driven socialist left movements can do anything and that 2) anything that is done will have minimal effect on climate change. I believe climate change is real but also believe that the effect is smaller than the “official” UN FCC etc claim and that their arguments are nothing more than a show of hands. That they use millenial scale model projections to support their call to action is a complete joke… the models cannot be used this way. I was acquainted with Holman Jenkins, WSJ opinion writer, from the Wanchai bar district in Lan Kwai Fong and SoHo … when he was regional head of the Asian WSJ.
Of course climate change is real. It’s a fact, like gravity. The climate always changes, always has, always will.
Being the lead lemming going off the cliff is no great feat. The sooner our governments wise up this fact the better for us.
Blackrock, the King of ESG, lost $1.7T of its clients’ money in the
last 6 mos. That’s despite having former EEs in the WH & redefining
ESG as anything that will make them $$$- including Chinese energy
companies, with China itself probably funding the ESG movement (like
Russia funded anti-fracking) from which it profits handsomely.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/07/15/cotton-esg-movement-benefits-china-china-probably-funds-it-like-russia-funded-anti-fracking-push/
Despite all the bullying, lying, & insider help, Blackrock still
lost a lot of $$$ for clients. Along with their dubious &
hypocritical ethics, the WEF is just as bad.
WEF-
Jim Smith, both a Pfizer board member & Reuters CEO– serves as a
board member of the WEF’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative,
dubbed the “leading business voice on anti-corruption & transparency”.
Reuters frequently reports on Pfizer, without ever disclosing
Smith’s affiliation with either entity.
Given how poor Green ESG ethics & policies are destroying
everything they touch, I wouldn’t trust them with a Nerf™ ball!
An unbiased view, as opposed to your scaremongering
Blackrock had 2Q earnings of $7.12 per share
and declared a dividend of $4.88 per share
Naturally, client’s investments went down during
the bear market in the first half of 2022,
but since then, the S&P500 rose +9.1% in July and
the NASDAQ Composite index rose +12.4% in July
Based on the history of the stock market,
all Blackrock customers who buy and hold
will eventually make a profit
And the first half of 2022 was when “holier than thou” ESG-peddling
decided to bless “evil energy”- even from China- as being okay. It
kept their losses down! Just like the EU Commission declaring natty
gas & nuclear as being clean when they’re facing a huge energy
shortfall. The ESG standard can be whatever it’s
convenient for it to be at the moment. Like the rest of
Wall Street, they tell you after the fact so they can get a
jump on repositioning themselves for their change. It’s amazing how a “cold dose of reality” when it comes to money & possible Sri Lanka-like riots can reveal people for the hypocrites they are!
Update-
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/this-is-how-we-will-make-sri-lanka-rich-by-2025/
The WEF reposted the page they disappeared after the huge
Sri Lanka riots as they faced a lot of embarrassing questions after it was “re-discovered using the Wayback Machine.
Good job of holding the crooks’ feet to the fire!
https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/07/13/the-wef-sri-lanka-wayback-machine/
It is no surprise that voters don’t care until there are consequences. We get one vote very four years; the midterms are even less useful That one vote has to stand for everything — crime, pandemic responses, military adventures, inflation, taxes, guns, wokism, climate, social security ….
Why should voters get all excited about something over which they have no control?
Looks like good sleeping weather in most of Europe tonight. What’s tomorrow’s panic? Good sleep is bad for you – blame climate change.
“”Today in Research: Bed Bugs Are Inbreeding; Climate Change Update””
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/today-in-research-bed-bugs-are-inbreeding-climate-change-update/249491/
One solution might be to catch them, cook them and eat them? No thanks!
If the meat is green… don’t eat it unless you have a cast iron gut.
Especially this green meat!
Of course Eric is right. Spending money on renewables is a complete waste and China and India could care less how much leadership we show them. They are making money off of our stupidity.
From the article: “Why Pretend Green Pork Will Stop Climate Change?”
Along those lines, why pretend Human-caused Climate Change is real?
I’m patiently waiting for any one Western nation to stand up and say, “we are not going to engage in this nonsense”. Just one nation.
I believe the day that happens, the CAGW dominos will start to fall until a cascade of total rejection takes hold.
But it won’t be while the current Jackanapes’ are running the world. It will require a new, younger generation, who can see the indoctrination for what it is. A bald taxpayer money grab by the wealthy while imposing austerity measures on the middle class.
Unfortunately, I think there is going to be a great deal of suffering before that new, younger generation wakes up.
We took one step in that direction under the last administration and if DJT had been re-elected my guess is he would have moved even further.
(His daughter’s voice in his ear was a problem.)
Depends on your (politician’s) point of view.
The Green Blight, blight, is a first-order forcing of catastrophic anthropogenic environmental change (CAEC).
Best quote …. “Alternative energy is not replacement energy.”
Just as I have been saying – green projects only cause MORE energy usage, not less. Except hydro.
“Green energy” is a globalist scam!
As a WSJ reader, I want to emphasize that Jenkins is a columnist. The WSJ news desks are all-in with climate change and other progressive causes.
The green new deal agenda is failing so stupendiously, that we can hope that the history of the Carter to Reagan transformation will repeat, only on a grander scale. And that these ideologies of failure will remain in disrepute for decades to come.
How will future generations look back on all the woke madness?
‘What a wicked thing this was’: UK Tavistock gender clinic shut down by NHS | Sky News Australia
How I learned to stop worrying and love the Dooming-
We Must Start Preparing Now For How Climate Change Might End Civilization, Says Report (msn.com)
There is a concerted attack by western governments on their own people. I’m a free trader but the outsourcing of jobs to China has been a disaster. Follow that with open borders to depress wages, war on mining and energy extraction, attacks on farming, and now inflation and unaffordable energy. You could blame it on stupidity and political games but once you start laying out the pieces the puzzle becomes clear. Layer on top media malfeasance and big tech suppression of dissent along with indoctrination of students, covid lockdowns and wokeism run amok in government and corporations and you see a dystopia approaching that of 1984 and Atlas Shrugged combined.
….believing that the West can lead others with their climate insanity is one of the strangest aspects of the climate movement.
Spot on! It has a strong smell of religious mania.
Thanks Eric, very interesting article and commentary.