(archived from June 23, 2014)
by Scott
Creighton
“THERE is a
time for weighing evidence and a time for acting…For too many
years, we failed to rein in the excesses building up in the
nation’s financial markets. When the credit bubble burst in
2008, the damage was devastating. Millions suffered. Many still do.
We’re making the same mistake today with climate
change.
… We need to
craft national policy that uses market forces to provide
incentives for the technological advances required to address climate
change. As I’ve said, we can do this by placing a tax on carbon
dioxide emissions. Many respected economists, of all ideological
persuasions, support this approach. We can debate the appropriate
pricing and policy design and how to use the money generated. But
a price on carbon would change the behavior of both
individuals and businesses. At the same time, all
fossil fuel — and renewable energy — subsidies should be phased
out. Renewable energy can outcompete dirty fuels once pollution
costs are accounted for.
… To add
reliable financial data to the science, I’ve joined with the former
mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg, and the retired
hedge fund manager Tom Steyer on an economic analysis of the
costs of inaction across key regions and economic sectors. Our goal
for the Risky Business project
— starting with a new study that will be released this week — is
to influence business and investor decision making worldwide.” Hank
Paulson, June 21, 2014
Henry “Hank”
Paulson, former
Goldman Sachs CEO, failed to rein in the excesses of the
financial market place for years. In fact, he did everything he could
to ensure that the sub-prime mortgage bubble, created by the same
financial institutions he serves, would cripple the economy forcing
an ideological shift in the economic structure of the United States
(anti-entitlement programs, harsh austerity… a.k.a. neoliberalism)
and every other country places like Goldman Sachs could sell off
their toxic derivative economic WMDs.