The Green Recession

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 05 May 2008 10:37:01 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Eric Englund at LewRockwell.com - Mr. England blames the environmental movement, especially Algore's human-induced-global-warming hoax, for America's economic problems. He may well be right. [lew]

So let's get back to the robust correlation between the rise of the green movement and the decline of the American economy. Greenies, and their political minions, are constantly bossing Americans around. Watch out for having too large of a carbon footprint. Did that bottled water come from Fiji? Recycle your paper, your plastic, your metals and don't you dare mix any of these materials in the wrong recycling bin. Don't water your lawn, get a low-flow toilet, and for gosh sakes replace your incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent ones. Are you driving an SUV? Shame on you. Think globally, but act locally. Blah, blah, blah.

An enormous amount of physical and mental energy is expended to make the green busybodies happy. None of this "work" is productive. Sure there are those who feel a sense of fulfillment by following these mind-numbing edicts from greenies -- as one feels more connected to nature and to a worthy cause (I suppose). I have little doubt that green sympathizers are the same people who celebrate the income tax so that money can be forcibly taken from bad people and transferred to the good downtrodden proletariat. Hurray for April 15th! All in all, going green is a monumental waste of time and energy. It is, consequently, a drag on our economy and a proximate cause of economic decline.

MBAs, across the country, have been indoctrinated with the claptrap that just about anybody or anything can be a stakeholder in a business. It is passé to believe that simply treating employees well and pleasing customers are the keys to business success. No, it is now chic, and politically correct, to integrate varying degrees of environmentalism into a company's business plan. For Mother Earth herself is a stakeholder in every business. The intrinsic value of nature must be acknowledged and celebrated in order for a business plan to be credible. By embracing such twaddle, it is no wonder once-great American companies are slipping into mediocrity or worse. MBAs, from top business schools, are part of the problem, not the solution.

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Comments (1):

Partially right

Submitted by regeya on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:30:46 GMT

I'll agree with the environmentalists on a few things, such as that we need to be more responsible and try to be less destructive. But some of the stuff they're dragging out is freakin' insane. I read a piece talking about how much water it takes to make a cup of coffee, a hamburger, whatever. How about instead of making me feel guilty about how much water those coffee beans required, we talk about why golf courses in Atlanta were allowed to water their greens while people were being ordered to not shower? And why are the environmentalists blocking every transition technology that comes about? Is it really better to keep using the same resource until the "real solution" becomes feasable? I think not.

We can't forget that economic hardships usually come about during times of war (and that the United States is fighting an unpopular war for bogus reasons at a time of unprecedented, reckless internationalization), the end of a credit-fueled housing bubble, the Fed trying an insane tactic to prop up the already-dead housing market, and various funds trying to do damage control by pumping money into valuable commodities. I've even seen some Peak Oil arguments being used on websites like MarketWatch when it's clear that it's not waning demand causing oil and gasoline prices to rise.

Someday we'll figure out a more sensible way of handling finances. I can't bring myself to become a Libertarian; hell, I'm married to a public school teacher, and besides I'm not sure the Libertarians have it all 100% right either (as if anyone does; we're all human.) I was glad to hear the Supreme Court had the balls to stand behind y'all and declare that armed citizens are indeed a militia, protected by the Constitution. The only thing that's clear at this point is that politics as usual are not an option, and that the direction the United States is going is wrong.

Personally I'm delighted to hear that high oil prices have done one good thing so far: Internationalization is starting to seem less feasable without cheap diesel to power those cargo ships. :-)

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