Josh 22

More cartoons by Josh here.

Comments

[John Wright]

That's the best one I've seen. Good man, Josh

[Richard Drake]

Great cartoon so sorry to quibble, but the 'low carbon economy' part of the ball and chain is as much around Dave's leg as Nick's (and of course Gord's). It depends crucially what this amounts to in specific policies - what Cam can get through his mostly sceptical and currently very disappointed supporters in the Commons. As Tim Montgomerie was overheard saying at a fringe meeting of the Labour Party conference on the New Toryism: "Conservatives do care about the environment - maybe not climate change, but the environment." I have no idea how it will pan out, all I know is that this is the moment for an Open Climate Initiative which is absolutely free from the old tribal politics. New politics, new climate science, new, completely open energy policy, using the best technology in every sense - where the public is given a truly honest view of what is to come at a time when economic pain is going to be intense in any case.

[Brent Hargreaves]

Gordon Brown is being termed a "Klingon", rather like the worldwide army of climate doommongers.

The Klingons continued success puzzles me. How is it that we have not swept them away? The sceptics have the clarity, the integrity, the wit and the wisdom to see through the AGW myth. And yet the Klingons continue to monopolise multinational organizations and government agencies.

I think their success is founded on their political and advocacy skills, about which the laws of physics care not one jot. Climategate hasn’t derailed the AGW gravy train. Will it roll for decades more, bleeding Britain's already anaemic economy dry?

I see only two solutions: mimick the warmists’ political activism (this ain’t going to happen: normal folks don’t have the required monomaniacal fury) or demolish the codswallop science.

We need a go-getting scientist who can prove that there is no Tipping Point, and that CO2 is a useful trace gas not a diabolic pollutant. The battlegrounds are twofold: Feedback and Sensitivity. Demonstrate that feedback is negative, and that sensitivity to CO2 is dwarfed by other drivers and we dynamite the scientific underpinning that keeps this hoax standing.

[Fred from Canuckistan]

The BBC coverage here focused on Cameron's after-the-vote speech where he said he can work with the Lib-Dems, especially in the area of a low-carbon economy.

Seems the lack of election victory wasn't enough to shake off the effects of having drunk the AGW Kool Aid.

The UK is in for a most bumpy ride I suspect. If only it wasn't happening while Greece burns.

[Don Pablo de la Sierra]

Fred

It is just beginning. The twenty or so years of the Socialist La Dolce Vita is coming to an end, not just in Greece, but the rest of the Western World as well. And as Maggie said years ago:

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Eventually, eventually does come. And it has. That has happened in California, Ireland, the UK, all of Europe, and now the USA. We are all broke, borrowing money like mad. Ireland owes more money per GDP than Greece, and the UK more than Ireland. That is scary. And when you look at California, it makes Greece look like a pillar of financial responsibility.

The "carbon tax" is nothing more than an attempt to raise "revenues." The politicians have no interest in saving the world, just their skins. They need money, and this is about as good a reason as any other.

We are now in for a number of years of readjustment and the best thing that could happen to the Tories is that Labor retains Number 10. Why? Because the merde will hit the fan in the next 12 months and whoever is in power will be a pariah in eyes of the average punter. That also says that Obama and his socialist buddies will be in deep trouble.

I, for one, am totally angry at the 4 cent per liter "carbon tax" on fuel in the ROI. I just sent in my voter registration renewal to Co Kerry and plan to be there to vote next time. For Whom? I don't know, but I am sure it will not be for Fianna Fáil.

[michel]

Ireland owes more money per GDP than Greece, and the UK more than Ireland.

Don't think this is true. The UK has the largest current account deficit at around 13-14%. It also has a hefty total debt at about 85-90% of GDP. But Greece has total debt of around 130% of GDP and a current account deficit not much under the UK.

The usual estimate is that its the combination of a deficit over about 10% and a total debt load over 90% that puts you in the red zone. The UK is borderline, it will not take much to get it squarely in the red zone. But its not true to say that in aggregate it is worse than Greece. Yet.

[Don Pablo de la Sierra]

Tag, I'm it, Michel --

I was sloppy in both my language and facts. I should have said DEFICIT per GDP and, Ireland is the worst at that.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-22042010-BP/EN/2-22042010-BP-EN.PDF

But UK is third worse after Greece. And not by much.

However, the UK has control of its currency, which means it can be devalued, while that is not true of PIIGS or California. Interesting that California seems to have the same problem -- no control over their currency. Be thankful that Maggie kept the UK out of the euro.

That leaves the PIIGS and California two controls -- increase taxes (already too high) or cut spending. Failing that, they have to borrow money in the form of bonds.

However, given the reluctance of the unions in the PIIGS and California to accept the sort of belt tightening needed, and the tax payer to give out more tax money, they all have been selling bonds, ever more bonds.

Sooner or later, it must collapse. It will just be a matter of time. And it will be the bond market that drives it. Not that the politicians don't understand it. Merkel is already talking about "regulating" the rating agencies, banks and "speculators" to "protect" the Euro. However, I point to what Soros did to the BOE in 1992. The big money boys will demand more and more from the bonds in interest until it reaches the breaking point. Others, like Soros in 1992, will short sell, forcing a collapse.

The wolves will attack the weakest first -- Greece -- and move on. This has already happened.

As I said, the "carbon tax" is just an excuse to increase revenues and has nothing to do with saving the climate. The politicians could care less about the science. They want the money.

In other words, while what we do here is fun, intellectually stimulating and all that, we will have to use political action to affect change. Scientific facts are irrelevant to their thinking.

[Robert E. Phelan]

It really doesn't matter with which party the Lib-Dems choose to align themselves. A coalition will not hold and you'll be back to the polls in a year. That is a year in which you should be camping out on your MP's doorstep and letting him know which side his bread is really buttered on. You could even attempt to challenge him your self. Here in the States a number of incumbents from both parties are being challenged and a number have decided to retire rather than face either primary challenges or the voters in November.

[Jonathan Drake]

How long will the Tory high command maintain the AGW line? I was told by a prominent politician, about two years ago, that the promotion of AGW policies by the Conservatives was part of their "decontamination process". There was apparently two primary reasons belying this. Firstly, it enabled continuation of funds from one of their major donors who is a green advocate. Secondly, they believed that it would be perceived as a change in party alignment to be more in line with public opinion.

Now public opinion is towards AGW is changing and possibly the donations (elections are expensive) are less important once power has been attained. It will be interesting to see how policy implementation proceeds once the government composition is finally decided and they actually begin governing.

[Dreadnought]

The Take Back Parliament group who organised that purple demonstration outside Liberal headquarters are supported by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

The Greenpeace blog says, 'Making the voting system fairer is a key part of the wide-ranging political reforms needed to reduce the influence of vested interests which are hampering the move to a low-carbon economy and lower emissions.'

My usual question - who voted for Greenpeace?

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/about/broken-britain-more-broken-parliament-20100507

[Don Pablo de la Sierra]

My usual question - who voted for Greenpeace?

Well, they got a seat somewhere, but I can't find it. Even Sinn Fein did better with five. Maybe Dublin? Nah, that can't be, can it?

Maybe Cameron should cut NI from the UK when he has a chance -- not one blue seat in NI at all. The same for Scotland (I think).

Merkel lost her regional elections it is predicted. Going to be an interesting week in Europe and on the stock exchanges.

[Don Pablo de la Sierra]

By God I found it. Brighton Pavilion -- King George III's mad house, if I remember my American History correctly. :)

Actually, we have similar places in California: The Socialist States (city) of Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica.

[Keith]

Don Pab and Bish.

Have you seen this account of reforming New Zealand's economic mess in the 1980s?
http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2004&month=04

Hung Parliament,
I'd have settled for tarred and feathered, but who knows, perhaps we'll get drawn and quartered in there as a 3 for the price of 1?

[Atomic Hairdryer]

Re: Jonathan Drake

"How long will the Tory high command maintain the AGW line? I was told by a prominent politician, about two years ago, that the promotion of AGW policies by the Conservatives was part of their "decontamination process"."

When I went to an election kick off meeting our agent showed an internal vs external opinion poll result. Within the Conservative party, green issues polled second lowest importance but I think fourth importance externally. From memory the poll was taken around February/March time. No idea if there was similar polling within the Lib Dems though or wether it'll become key policy in the 'meeting of minds'

Scrapping the Climate Change Act though would save us a lot of money and reduce fraud, plus could be used as an EU issue to highlight the way ineffective legislation is foisted on member states. People do seem to be waking up to the scams involving wind and solar power with highly optimistic cost and energy figures quoted. There are also bigger frauds, such as the one mentioned here-

http://nigguraths.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/suzlon-bollywood/

and Suzlon also appears to be having problems with blade failures, which are rather hazardous if changes to planning regulations mean they'll end up being built closer to housing.

[Atomic Hairdryer]

ps.. From the BBC's voting summary-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/

In one of those good news/bad news things, the Greens collected 285,616 votes, less than the BNP got. Vote was down on last time despite running quite a large campaign.

[Don Pablo de la Sierra]

The Greens are a cancer, sadly. While at one time I respected their goals, those goals have become radical. At one time they were a joke in Ireland, but they slowly gained enough to form a coalition government with Fianna Fáil and it's been a very bad ride.

The Greens now dictate too much in Ireland because FF wants to remain in power, including the 4 cent a liter carbon tax on fuel. That makes it cheaper to buy your petrol in NI.

Hopefully, you Brits don't make the same mistake that the Irish punters did.

/rant

I could not help but notice that the stock markets are way up today after the "bold" plan rolled out in Brussels to save the EU from itself.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7121713.ece

What one needs to look at is the "Package":

"Under the three-year aid plan, the European Commission will make €60 billion available, while countries from the 16-nation euro zone will promise backing for €440 billion. The IMF would contribute an additional sum of at least €250 billion.

About 15 billion pounds was promised by Darling, who is about to be removed from office . Right! And Merkel just lost her majority in Germany. Right.

And just where are the 16 countries going to get €440 billion? That is an average of €27.5 billion each. Why they borrow it from the bond market, increase their sovereign debt, which is already too much. And as for the IMF, the US has a lot of money in it, and I somehow think that €250 billion will be drastically reduced by the US.

Bottom line -- They will push like hell for the "Carbon Tax" as they need the money.

Run out and buy gold with your Euros or at least convert them to sterling. Aren't you Brits happy about what Maggie did years ago? She did have her faults, but she called that one right

[Keith]

Don Pab,
The green - Fianna Failure (national socialist lite - very like new labour) coalition is a joke. the greens have about 3% of the vote and yet their TDs (MPs) are all ministers. trouble is the fine Gael (christian democrat, sort of Irish Tories) don't seem to have any desire to take the reins and are contemplating their navels in the same way as the British Libs did for decades. That and the Irish Labour party is bit like the British one was in Michael Foot's day

I don't see any appetite in the new British coalition to start reducing the size of the state sector (Thatcher grew it too). perhaps it is beyond the tipping point and cannot now be done by a party hoping to get re elected in the next 100 years or so. Is the state sector is just too big and juicy a bloc of captive votes?

Unfortunately I can only think of two possible outcomes:
Zimbabwefication
errr "correction by popular means"
I don't want to see either.

I think I'll go and dust the gold pans off, the weather is getting warm enough to use them now...

ps; the global derivatives market is about 10 times annual global "GDP" any bets about carbon credit trading crashing it?

[Keith]

Yer grace,
That student aid post looks a lot like spam
erase this when you've read it.
:^)}

[Don Pablo de la Sierra]

Kevin,

Pretty much agree with all your points -- including the spam entry from student aid.

As for Carbon Credits, they are a sham. How do you evaluate them? They are pure fictions, much like the various other derivatives that got us into this mess. Me, I put my trust in gold.

Oddly, I live (while in California) in the Mother Lode. In fact, there is a mine some 1000 feet under my house and there is all sorts of gold still here. Recently, a local punter dug up a 9 pound (by weight) nugget on his property. (As for mineral rights, I only own them down about 25 feet, so the gold has to be very near the surface for me to claim it. Others own the mineral rights.)

http://www.theunion.com/article/20100430/NEWS/100429649

So maybe I will go out back and get a little exercise. Maybe I will rent a digger and pay the carbon tax on the fuel -- oh, this is not Ireland. Sorry. :)

As for the Euro, it will go down, down, down. At this moment, it is $1.2696, and Gold is $1240. I hope everyone followed my advice of a few days ago.

And as for Carbon Credits, I can't find what they are trading at.