175 Cap & Trade

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Always be suspicious when apocalyptic predictions come out of no where that require the whole world to get involved or some unconscionable calamity will occur. Climate Change is the current bug-a-boo, but other common themes are epidemics, the population explosion, asteroids, genetically modified insects, or any number of nightmare scenarios that require Americans to give up their liberty and let some over-arching World authority take over for the good of everyone. Be especially careful of solutions that involve ill-defined goals based on debatable, emotionally-charged, uncontrollable factors, which is where Cap & Trade comes under consideration. Cap & Trade creates an artificial, labyrinthine complex, so-called “market” in emission credits to limit greenhouse gases, but in reality it limits nothing, but instead is a wealth transfer from rich nations to poor.</p> <p>Cap & Trade was created by bureaucrats for bureaucrats a couple decades ago, and was even adopted for a short period by some countries, such as Australia, that quickly abandoned the whole enterprise when its predictable flaws became woefully obvious. Worldwide Cap & Trade would be prone to exploitation at best, but most probably would result in criminality, outrage, and increased human discord. Whatever Cap & Trade’s intended purposes are for saving the world, it's more likely an engineering nightmare and political cancer. Whatever solution Americans finally adopted to limit greenhouse gases, the inevitable tax money it generates should stay here, not financing some Third World dictator's lifestyle.</p>