Global Warming & National / World Politics 04 Jul 2009 10:00 am
Carbon Offsets: the new scam?
Hedge Funds, Sub Prime Mortgage bundling, now Carbon Offsets.
We’ve been heading for the disaster we’re living in now – ever since we started the WAR on POVERTY 45 years ago – (which we’ve never made a dent in, by the way)…. http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_3_sndgs01.html
All I really need to understand is George Soros was an early supporter of Hedge Funds to understand – this can’t be good.
A fund, usually used by wealthy individuals and institutions, which is allowed to use aggressive strategies that are unavailable to mutual funds, including selling short, leverage, program trading, swaps, arbitrage, and derivatives. Hedge funds are exempt from many of the rules and regulations governing other mutual funds, which allows them to accomplish aggressive investing goals. They are restricted by law to no more than 100 investors per fund, and as a result most hedge funds set extremely high minimum investment amounts, ranging anywhere from $250,000 to over $1 million. As with traditional mutual funds, investors in hedge funds pay a management fee; however, hedge funds also collect a percentage of the profits (usually 20%).
More information here where I grabbed the paragraph.
Hedge Funds then the bundling of bad mortgages into subprime mortgages and selling them, IMO are the prime elements of this crisis. It’s not an economic down turn, it’s payback for all the stupid things that people have done to “make a buck” or “keep up with the Jones’”. Everything from salaries to houses were too inflated, as well as people’s drive for “things”. I have a sister that always parses things simply by “wants” v “needs”. More people should be like her.
Now, every day I think about my fairly substantial 401k and if it will be there tomorrow. I don’t worry about its value – I wonder if it will be there – if someone will take it – or maybe it’s not really there… Is that nuts?
The world today seems to be “about the scam” – about taking advantage of the crisis. You have been instructed that you don’t need to pay your credit card bill or house payments, but still buy your new ipod or blackberry… get a stay at home job and make 6 figures a year. Even the congress has to rush to pass 1,000 + pages bills costing Trillions of dollars, and almost all of the legislators admit to not reading the bill. what’s the rush! What are they hiding? What’s the scam?
I’ve told my friends, prepare to live without your cell phone or internet access or even your car and try to remember (or learn) how exist – it is getting just that odd out in the real world.
Carbon offsets are becoming an increasingly popular way for individuals and businesses to participate in solutions to global warming. The basic idea of a carbon offset is to figure out your personal contribution level to the global warming problem from such activities as driving, flying, or home energy use. This contribution is called a “carbon footprint.” The term refers to carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas. You can balance out your carbon footprint by buying carbon offsets. Your purchase funds reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through projects such as wind farms, which produce clean energy that displaces energy from fossil fuels. By funding these reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, you balance out, or offset, your own impact by an equivalent amount. Carbon offsets help you take personal responsibility for the environmental consequences of your activities.
Anything that is difficult to audit is ready for corruption. Bernie Maddoff? Enron? Have we learned nothing?
One of my favorite TV shows is “Living with Ed” the Greenman Ed Begley, the actor, and his wife star in a reality show. Ed is Green, very Green and his wife appreciates it but frequently thinks he goes too far. But I like him and think more people should live like him. No one needs a 50,000 sq ft mansion to live, I don’t care how rich you are. But you can’t make laws to tell people they can’t build 50,000 sq ft mansions! Anyway – Ed is always hopping on his computer to buy carbon credits. Last show I watched, it was because his wife was flying to Utah for a film festival and Ed was driving his hybrid. Guilt payments. I learn a lot from the show and it’s fun to watch. Ed doesn’t “force” his lifestyle on others but teaches. But do carbon credits work?
Then you have my candidate, Dr. Miller-Meeks. She was an alternate delegate to the AMA convention a few weeks ago when the President spoke in Chicago. She wrote about it several times in her blog – here is the link. She talks about the AMA going Green – sending out PDFs of the events, etc… hundreds of pages, but then everyone brings their laptops! Carbon Offset anyone???
Fossil fuel and cement emissions increased by 3.3 percent per year during 2000-2006, compared to 1.3 percent per year in the 1990s. Similarly, atmospheric C02 concentrations increased by 1.93 parts per million per year during 2000-2006, compared to 1.58 ppm in the 1990s. And yet, despite accelerating emission rates and concentrations, there’s been no net warming in the 21st century, and more accurately, a decline.