Green Businesses
Corporations Milking Global Warming
By Daniel Muniz

The primary purpose for the existence of a private sector company is to make money. And the ultimate goal of that purpose is to make a whole lot of money; the more, the better. And for some companies, if there is a chance to make life as miserable as possible for the competition by exploiting bad press and getting the government to implement outrageously unfair regulations, then so be it.

And that is precisely what is happening with the Climate Action Partnership. This group is a coalition of 10 major corporations who are noisily clamoring for the federal government to establish a limit on carbon dioxide emissions and a number of other excessive measures to combat global warming.

Of course, this group created a media sensation.

After all, it is Big Business that is the root cause of pollution from all of the products they sell to consumers although it is a contortion of science to say that carbon dioxide is indeed a pollutant. So now these corporate fat cats want to clean up their act and redeem themselves from their previous malfeasance by using their tremendous political influence to lobby Congress to enact strict laws to protect the environment.

Predictably, the press fell over itself.

Climate change activists teamed up with Hollywood and rock stars (who live in opulent wasteful excess) to create an enormous synergy that keeps generating headlines about the environment. Now add Big Business to this trendy crusade especially since the media ran numerous stories describing how Corporate America is jumping on the bandwagon to fight global warming. This became a big story because the culprits who are polluting our planet are turning over a new leaf and changing their ways to become responsible stewards of our natural resources.

But there is just one slight detail that the press missed.

The big corporations who belong to the Climate Action Partnership stand to make a lot of money if stricter environmental laws are enacted. In addition, their competitors will be severely punished.

At the top of the list of green corporations is General Electric (GE) whose CEO spends more time in Washington DC than in his corporate headquarters. With wind turbines going for $2 million apiece, GE stands to make a fortune if new coal burning plants are banned and existing ones are greatly curtailed. In addition, GE also sells the solar equipment that utilities have been reluctant to purchase.

And speaking of utility companies, four members of the Climate Action Partnership are Duke, PG&E, FPL and PNM Resources which are giant utilities that invested heavily in wind, hydroelectric, and nuclear power.

The reason that our electricity is currently cheap and plentiful is because of the laws of supply and demand. The intent of the Climate Action Partnership is to take away that cheap and plentiful supply and replace it with expensive inefficient alternatives. And here is the beauty of this green revolution. Local utilities cannot afford this kind of transition without devastating the consumer and the economy so who will pay for it if new environmental restrictions are enacted?

Well, there is only one collective entity who can finance anything and that is the American taxpayer.

What the media conveniently ignores is the fact that global warming is quickly becoming the biggest trough of corporate welfare because of oppressive regulations and generous taxpayer subsidies.

Alternative energies such as wind farms, ethanol, and biodiesel are economic losers. The public isn’t buying into these green energy sources en masse because they are not yet cheap and plentiful. The only reason that these economic losers are going to succeed is because our government will make them successful by forcing people to use them and by subsidizing these green energy producers with taxpayer money.

It is already happening with ethanol. There is no way to make a profit from converting corn into fuel which is currently the most wasteful inefficient process available. But then again, you don’t have to worry about the bottom line if the federal government is passing out generous handouts to ethanol producers and slapping stiff tariffs on foreign ethanol which is made from sugar cane and is currently the cheapest and the most efficient way to produce it.

The media has sure made a lot of hype about Big Business wanting to save the planet but they have overlooked the fact that these very same companies are trying to squeeze out the most tyrannical regulations and the most generous subsidies possible from our federal government.

But that should come to no surprise. The press has conveniently overlooked the extravagant jet setting lifestyles of celebrities and politicians who are trying to save the planet. These activists can talk the talk but they cannot walk the walk when it comes to limiting the size of their own carbon footprint. However, the press doesn’t mind because these green crusaders generate the publicity and the media buzz that captures the public’s attention.

Overall, the global warming community may “think” that they have finally received the support of the business community but in all reality, they are being manipulated by companies who seek to fatten their wallets through corporate welfare and government regulations. Unfortunately, it will be the taxpayer who will have to bear the brunt of all of these costly and inefficient green alternatives.

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