”’Opening statement by U.S. Senator James Inhofe at Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Hearing on the U.S. Climate Action Partnership Report”’
The issue of climate change has taken on a larger significance lately. And the subject of the day is mandatory carbon cap and trade. More and more, companies that wish to profit on the backs of consumers are coming out of the woodwork to endorse climate proposals in the hope of forcing customers to buy their unnecessary products or to penalize their competitors.
Some companies are coming together in an attempt to profit from government intervention where they have failed in the marketplace. Economists call this rent-seeking.
But I think the ”’Wall Street Journal”’ was right. They are climate profiteers. These companies will gain market-share against their competitors while the economy flattens and jobs are sent to China – which in an ironic twist of fate will soon become the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide on the planet.
Not all companies have joined the climate profiteers. Most will be its victims, particularly small businesses that will no longer be able to compete. But the biggest losers won