Big Business to the Rescue
A Coalition for Firm Limit on Emissions
This NYTimes article describes how big business is getting behind the global warming band wagon. Assessing their risks, the Big Companies realize that the consequences of global warming can be threatening to their business while getting ahead of the curve and providing solutions can be a substantial business opportunity. I only wish they had this epiphany earlier.
Something similar is happening with Health Care. An inefficient national health care system puts US firms at a competitive disadvantage against overseas companies who enjoy state sponsored health care. Their costs of doing business are simply lower.
Likewise US Energy independence is good for business that needs reliable and inexpensive sources of power.
This all is in part behind the strategy of the Democratic Leadership Council; that group of moderate Democrats who believe that working with business is more effective than working against them. The other attraction to working with Business is that they tend to be a lot more pragmatic and objective than ideological.
Sure there are issues where interests might strain such as unionization and fair versus free trade. But there are much better opportunity for reconciliation between partners who have a successful working relationship.
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5 Responses to “Big Business to the Rescue”
You’re giving credit to moderate Democrats? What, now that letting the market bring about reactions to global warming has been proposed by politicians with a magical “D” behind their name it’s a good idea? Republicans have been urging reliance on markets for a long, long time. If there’s credit to be doled out for partisans of any stripe, I think Republicans are entitled to some share of it.
Several of the companies listed either sell nuclear power plants or want to construct new nuclear power plants. If they can convince the government to crack down on coal fired plants it forces the government into either approving their applications for new plants or creates new customers for their newly designed nuclear plants.
I wonder how the greens will respond when they realize that cracking down on carbon creates a “Nuclear Renaissance.”
I agree that some Republican’s also deserve credit for promoting market solutions for containing pollution. Unfortunately they were not able to persuade most of their GOP colleagues to enact that kind of legislation for the global warming components. The Dems will be.
It seems reasonable to me that nuclear power is one of the many legs to our national energy policy. I hope that it is not one that we promote to the detriment of less polluting and risky methods. But many of the next generation solutions have downsides. Crops for energy require water, Wind might disrupt migratory patterns and make odd noises. Even Hydroelectic can disrupt ecosystems.
I am most turned on to roofing materials made from photovoltaic materials. Like the internet, a diversified energy system is less susceptible to sabotage and failure.
I think the credit belongs to whoever is able to make it work. If the Dems are pragmatic enough to be able to work with market forces, good for them. The GOP had 12 years to do something and did not. I will give credit to Governor Swartzenegger- now he is a Republican who deserves credit for taking a leadership role on this issue.
I just realized that I should have also given credit to the business leaders who are promoting the effort in conjunction with moderate Democrats. Sorry for the omission.