Schumer Sells ‘Broken Windows’ (updated)

George Rebane

The US adopting the dreadful Paris Accords is the hot topic now.  The accord is a voluntary agreement to further cut carbon emissions by the participating countries.  The major emitters get a pass, with the other developed countries having not even met their past commitments.  And everyone is hollering about President Trump not signing up America to be the only patsy in the group.

[update] 'Trump Quits Climate Deal He Says Is Unfair To US Workers'

More specifically, China will not have to do anything until 2030 if then, and India will continue increasing its CO2 emissions to 3X current levels in the interval.  And all that is OK with everyone else.  But the US, which has actually cut its CO2 emissions thanks to private industry fracking natural gas to substitute for coal, it is we who are suddenly the bad guys for not jumping with both feet into an economically devastating commitment that will literally have no effect on anything to do with climate (see nearby figure).

As grist for the nation’s innumerate and ignorant, Senator Chuck Schumer (Democrat, of course) is leading a team of far-left liberals touting the UN line that the US is forsaking the creation of gazillions of ‘green jobs’ by not signing up to Paris.  This is the same ‘debate is over’ crowd that forsook climate science years ago and adopted global warming as the perfect political tailwind to usher us into our new one-world future.  But using the already debunked green jobs gambit really plays a trick on the nation’s light readers.

French economist and philosopher Frederic Bastiat (whom RR readers have met many times) wrote That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen in 1850, the year California entered the Union.  In its first chapter he dispelled the then already established economic myth that the shopkeeper’s broken window was not all that bad for the local economy.  The logic went that since the shopkeeper now had to pay the glazier a fee to fix the window, this allowed the glazier to continue to spend his fee with butcher, baker, and candlestick maker, who in turn spent their … well, you get the picture.  The bottom line was that the broken window, while an unintended expense for the shopkeeper, was really an economic boon for the community – in short, destruction results in profit.

The natural question that here begs an answer is ‘If we want to stimulate the economy, then why not simply break more windows along with other acts of destruction which will employ a legion of repairmen and start a fiscal cascade to the benefit of all?’

But that is only what is seen.  As Bastiat teaches, what is not seen are the alternative uses for the monies spent to fix things back to how they already were in the past.  It is spending (investment) in the enterprising and new that really grows the economy, producing more jobs and increasing everyone’s quality of life.  This is a concept foreign to progressive minds.

Schumer et al want to deploy a significant segment of our workforce in the attempt to produce or replicate (read ‘fix’) our energy production infrastructure - an infrastructure that already exists, functions exceedingly well, and is naturally transforming itself with new technologies to become ever more efficient, economical, and environmentally benign.  There is no real need to take money out of a productive economy and redeploy it to ‘fix’ what is not broken, and doing that will inevitably deprive the uses of those monies for new enterprises that will really benefit us all.  This is the sum and substance of the eternal debate between the Left and the Right.

Are They Really that Ignorant? Department:  In the same vein we encounter similar items that illustrate the acumen of our leftwing neighbors.  Since its discovery during the Obama years, the intellectual deficit of today’s so-called millennials is now firmly established.  This is proving to be an embarrassment to our Left since a large fraction of them lean in that direction and vote Democrat.  A standard response is to lambast anyone who cites the evidence for such a deficit.  In fact one local leftwing loonie has even suggested that recognizing such a deficit makes one unfit to participate in educating our youth.

The logic for this knee-jerk may actually work because the millennials are like any other generation, save their having had to suffer wholesale the educational constriction inflicted by a unionized merit-deprived public school system, that is doubled down by a far-left professoriat within the ivied walls as it then puts the finishing touches on their thinking.

To corroborate this, Warren Stephens addresses ‘Why Do the Young Reject Capitalism?’ while “at the same time, they celebrate entrepreneurship and free enterprise.  It is a curious disconnect.”  In the piece he cites last year’s Harvard survey and study (here) showing that “more than half of respondents between 18 and 29 do not support capitalism, the free-market system that underpins our economy. An astonishing one-third said they support socialism.”  Critical thinking today is a skill forsaken because it is not taught.

And finally we come to the bottom of the liberal barrel with an example from an offering in the 1jun17 Union by a Mr Richardt Stormgaard (here).  This proud leftwing scholar takes to task a past column by Ms Cindy Hren in which she explained to readers that the United States is a (democratic) republic as opposed to a democracy.  Mr Stormgaard will have none of this and opens with a strong assertion that we are indeed a democracy because that is what many people think.   But the substantiation of his argument quickly goes off the rails when he somehow connects Ms Hren’s explanation as evidence of “the extraordinary journey undertaken by the once honorable Republican Party to the extremist right.” (yes, that is a quote)  This off-topic tirade continues until another attempt at lucidity fails when he suddenly announces that it was really the Heritage Foundation in 1973 that introduced the error describing our governance when they “concocted the notion that since the U.S. Constitution specifically had not named democracy as its form of government (no society at that point in history had) U.S. democracy in fact is not valid and most of our history massive unconstitutional overreach (sic). The label chosen for the new U.S. was a republic.” Profound ignorance on parade.

The rest of us learned the difference between a democracy and a republic as intended by the Founders, for which the most famous confirmation comes down to us in the exchange between Mrs Powell and Benjamin Franklin emerging from the 1787 Constitutional Convention.   “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” 

Given today’s schools and the likes of Mr Stormgaard, it is no longer clear that we can keep it.

Comments

[Don Bessee]

Another campaign promise checked off the list. ;-)

[Todd Juvinall]

YAY!

[Account Deleted]

That little bit of mischief authored by Stormgaard really takes the cake.
I'm sure even now he's rueing a lot of what he wrote. The idea that the Heritage Foundation 'concocted' the notion that our nation is a republic is such total blather it's hard to believe that Mr Stormgaard even believes that himself. Has he ever recited the Pledge Of Allegiance?
The original words came from a socialist in 1892. Good grief.
His piece further sinks into saliva spraying nonsense as he complains about the Citizens United decision.
"In 2010 the Supreme Court rendered the shocking Citizens United decision. Corporations with unlimited financial resources could now legally bribe politicians (quid pro quo corruption)."
Politicians being bribed? Oh dear - that's certainly never happened before. Corporations with 'unlimited financial resources'?
Sorry - they don't exist.
Then of course we are treated to the left's biggest buggaboo.
"Only in a few extreme fundamentalist Christian and many Muslim religious sects is there a claim that eternal truth was established once and for all in a distant past. That indicates how extreme and out of touch with common sense/reality the originalist/right-wing republican claim is in our modern world."
Yes, in the 'modern' world there are no eternal truths. Only a handful of religious nut cases would think that lying, stealing, murder and rape are forever to be thought of as bad. And those silly human rights that were dreamed up 'in a distant past' (like voting rights) are all up for change in Mr Stormgaard's brave new world. All, except for the ones he likes - those are eternal.
But - to be fair - there are others in our midst with more madness on their minds. Tom Steyer is up in arms over Trump's decision to pull America out of Obama's blunder with the Paris Accords.
He complains that "With Trump hellbent on giving corporate polluters free reign to poison our air and water..."
Please - CO2 isn't poison.
Sanity seems to be in short supply these days on the left.

[Paul Emery]

Trump in an obviously desperate move played to his shrinking base on this one. Not many cards left to play when you're sinking to mid 30dom in the polls and losing control of your own staff which are leaking and bailing with no new applicants for the jobs. As Randy Newman says "It's lonesome at the top"

[fish]

Posted by: Scott Obermuller | 01 June 2017 at 01:04 PM

Sanity seems to be in short supply these days on the left.

Oh....then you saw the Hillary interview where she explained her loss in 2016.

[Bill Tozer]

Come on, the Left just sees things in a different light. Disconnect is their strong point.

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1098019070332129/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1098035433663826/?type=3&theater

Guess we on the Right side of history are just an impediment to process with our nutty antiquated ideas.

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1055343127933057/?type=3&theater

[Don Bessee]

News to fakenewsman @ 117, it was what he promised or did you miss that little election thing that was going on last year? ;-)

[Paul Emery]

Overwealming evidence from NASA of global warming. Here's a teaser orf what the NASA presentation shows

The graphic below shows the decline in Arctic sea ice between September 1984 (left) and September 2016 (right). Over that 32-year period, the area covered by ice at least four years old has plummeted from 718,000 square miles to 42,000 square miles.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nasa-climate-change-images_us_591f02fbe4b034684b0bd512?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

[Account Deleted]

"Trump in an obviously desperate move played to his shrinking base on this one."
Paul might want to play some video of Trump's campaign promises.
Pulling the US out of an illegal treaty (never ratified by congress) was pretty high on the list. Trump's base will grow because of this.
And again, Paul, it's President Trump. Yes - still POTUS.
And that woman that ran against him is not.
Winning!
Of course, Paul - if you'd like to point out how the air and water in Nevada County (or any where else) is poisoned because of Trump's actions, we'd all like proof. Otherwise, you're just pissed because you don't personally like him and you were wrong about him being the candidate and winning.
Pretty petty if you ask me.

[Don Bessee]

Did anyone else notice that the Suni countries shut down hufpo and Al-Jazeera as being propaganda? Go watch Al Gores movie and come back and tell us how much came true po' ol' PE. ;-)

[Account Deleted]

Paul at 4:59 - What happened to 'settled' science. No more snow! Hugest hurricanes ever! Instead, we had record snow and the quietest hurricane period on record.
Oh Paul - Paul?
Crickets.
Headline from his scare tactic article - A NASA photo gallery shows Earth “in a state of flux.”
Well - oh my goodness - a state of flux. Well, we never had that before!
That before and after photo shows a big improvement. I mean - which photo shows a climate you'd want to live in?

[Paul Emery]

The photos tell the story Scott. Did you look at them and read the captions?

Here's another story and graphic.

"Russia, China, and other nations are stepping up preparations for the day when large numbers of cargo ships will be traversing a once-icebound Arctic Ocean. But with vessels already plying these waters, experts say the time is now to prepare for the inevitable environmental fallout."

http://e360.yale.edu/features/cargo_shipping_in_the_arctic_declining_sea_ice

[Paul Emery]

Here's more:

"The data are truly daunting," said Robert Richmond, a coral reef expert and director of the University of Hawaii's Kewalo Marine Laboratory. "These massive bleaching events have become more severe, are longer lasting and are coming closer together. There just is no question that this is tied to climate change."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/great-barrier-reef-climate-change-coral-bleaching/

[Account Deleted]

Paul - notice the wording of the 'proof' you posted - "If the current rate of warming continues, Glacier could be free of the features for which it is named by 2030."
IF - COULD - oh yeah Paul. IF a pig COULD fly...
Good god - somebody instruct that poor boy.
"These massive bleaching events have become more severe, are longer lasting and are coming closer together. There just is no question that this is tied to climate change."
As opposed to the bleaching events 2 - 3 hundred years ago?
Zero evidence.
Stick with the guitar, Paul.

[Gregory]

Here you go, Paul, in a language that is straightforward enough even for geriatric musicians:
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2017/06/good-climate-hunting-d-j-trump-writer-director/

Oh, and regarding coral bleaching...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/28/sunscreen-damage-coral-research-oxybenzone

The warmth of 2016 is not likely to be replicated in 2017 or 2018...
http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_April_2017_v6.jpg

Really, Paul? The sky is not falling.

[Don Bessee]

So the fakenewsman would destroy the economy based on a 32 year window of analysis, what about the thousands of years past? Have you established your list of the correct Al Gore movie predictions yet? ;-)

[Todd Juvinall]

Global climate change happens every minute. CO2 is a necessary gas for life and yet the politicians and bureacrats got it named a pollutant. Though the planet would die if it was. Anyway, weasel words are used in every story because there is no settled science and it is strictly a money maker for pinheads. I have always called it a hoax and simply a way for the left to control and tax. Califoirnia is the best example of that.

[Russ]

The craziest reactions to Trump pulling out of the #ParisAgreement

This is a compilation of exploding lefty heads, great comical reading.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/06/01/the-craziest-reactions-to-trump-pulling-out-of-the-parisagreement/

[Don Bessee]

The true believers lost the general public when they were forced to abandon the original Global Warming tag and transition to the climate change name. Especially in a dynamically changing climate that follows solar cycles and the rigged models scandal.
That plus the pearl clutching predictions by Gore et al that were crazy wrong. ;-)

[Account Deleted]

Yes, Russ - there is some comedy there. But remember that millions of citizens we have to live with are too frickin' stupid to realize the comments are idiotic. Your butt-stupid governor said LAX would flood with a 4 foot sea level rise.
"But various sources say that the nation’s third-busiest airport -- bordered by the Pacific Ocean -- has elevations ranging from 108 feet to 126 feet and is protected by higher coastal bluffs on the west side."
Various sources? You mean folks who actually measure stuff?
"The governor misspoke about LAX,” said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the Brown administration." Oopsie!
But the governor still considers himself quite the expert on global warming.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-brown-lax-remarks-20140514-story.html
So - the global warming nut cases are always wrong in the short term, but are magically correct about the future.
Maybe Paul can 'splain that.

[Account Deleted]

"The photos tell the story Scott. Did you look at them and read the captions?"
Yes, Paul - which is more than you can say.
Glaciers in 1850? What about 1650? What about 1000 BC? Where are the photos that 'tell the story'?
California used to be covered in a mile of ice.
Where is it now? OMG!
The climate is changing, Paul. Has been for eons.
Calm down and learn.

[Account Deleted]

For Paul and others who slept through science class.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-americans-lived-on-bering-land-bridge-for-thousands-of-years/
Og: "Where land bridge go? Me want go see hot Inuit babe."
Gog: "Your son make lotta fire at night with sticks - now too much CO2 poisoning atmosphere and cause sea level to rise!"
Og: "You running for office?"

[Gregory]

1850 is a convenient endpoint for warmistas... it's about at the end of the Little Ice Age. It was colder then, Paul.

And even if it wasn't, correlation is not causality, though no one expects you to grok that. That it got warmer during the last half of the 20th century means little when trying to pin it on CO2.

[Don Bessee]

Now Scott, asking the fakenewsman to calm down and learn is harsh for the po' ol' party parrot. Old dogs and all that. We should just take up a collection and buy him some fresh pearls to clutch or a new crushed velvet chesterfield to swoon onto. ;-)

[Bill Tozer]

The fallout:

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1099603233507046/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1099594973507872/?type=3&theater

[Bill Tozer]

Ok, let's see what NASA has to say. No, not making Islamic feel good about themselves, but the real science technological stuff.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2015/05/19/updated-nasa-data-polar-ice-not-receding-after-all/#530cc9322892

Hmmm.

[Account Deleted]

What happened to Paul? He had all that proof and pictures and stuff.
I have pictures of my front yard last winter and I can take the same picture now.
GLOBAL WARMING!
Yep - happens every summer.
'Cept when there's NO SNOW!
Remember that prediction?
C'mon, Paul - admit your side doesn't predict very well.
You know - those Green Libertarians.
I can predict that when you spend more than you have on hand for several years, you will go belly up.
Funny how that seems to be true. But the Climate Change Hucksters have been wrong year after year.
Still wanna stick with them?
Why?

[Bill Tozer]

OMG, even more fallout! She should know since she has a hotline to upstairs.

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/06/02/pelosi-trump-dishonored-god-walking-away-paris-accord/

[Bill Tozer]

What others are saying about withdrawing from Paris

https://patriotpost.us/posts/49427