Cap and trade

[scott]

CO2 is plant food, now capped and traded for profit by well connected elites. This is progress?

[Jim Williams]

Weyerhaeuser Co, a timber company, owns roughly 10% of Washington State for the forests, which they farm. Around 1900 or so they figured that they were going to run out of trees so they had to find a new course. What they knew was Douglas Fir, their main crop, took 78 years from planting until it was ready for harvest. So what they did was plant 78 plots of deforested land one plot a year at a time, (still in progress) so they now have a susatinable crop as they harvest a plot a year. Their motivation was to sustain the company and profit.

The same thing is going to happen to natural gas and oil as some oil companies are abundantly aware as these resources are used up. Is profit going to be enough motivation for oil companies to switch to being renewable resource companies for their survival? I would guess not and it's going to be brand new companies that take up the charge.

Eventually because of shortages the price of gas and oil will be the same as renewables as gas and oil prices go up while and renewable prices come down. Profit again will be the motivation. Cap and trade is a sad joke as profit alone for renewables will cause the switch from gas and oil, except cap and trade also saves the planet in case gas and oil can't figure it out. Cap and trade is just insurance at the price of confidence in oil companies failing to be motivated for their own survival.

[Fletcher]

New Zealand's NZX50 [local sharemarket] has a carbon trading scheme - its reportedly the biggest in the world [been trading 4 years] - a portion of it was sold last week for 116 million with rights to further sell-offs in the future - the reason it works [apparently] is that it takes a need to reduce carbon emissions & allows company's to buy or sell surplus credits [determined by scientists & government] - so the capitalistic system is preserved & worked within whilst trying to cap & regulate the CO2 output under the guise of good commercial & corporate governance - if allowing corporates to clear their conscience by buying someone elses credits [who are more efficient than average] works then I guess the shareholders of those company's will eventually ask why are we paying for those rights when we could take steps to reduce our own carbon footprint & return more money to the shareholders pockets - hell, they might even have credits themselves to sell, but it means investing capital today for future benefits - all the while the CO2 targets are getting lower & lower forcing action to be taken or buy your credits from someone else.

[MrTim]

The "cap and trade" bill was 1200 pages long, and had an additional 300 pages tacked on before Congress voted on it.
I ask you, Would YOU sign a contract without reading and understanding what was in it? (Because that in effect is what the bill is.) And quite a few people voted FOR it, just on the promises that THEY (or the district the represent) would get some "goodies" from it. Such people should not be allowed to hold a position of responsibility....

For any homeowners in the USA planning to sell a house, this provision in the bill should get your attention:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/ ... sts?page=8

[terry5732]

Give me all your money or I will exhale