Quote:
Originally Posted by Muncle
If all bought all the global warming line, and bought into Kyoto-type restrictions, the only country to be seriously hampered developmentally and financially would be the US and to a lesser degree some of the Group of 7. And would it have a significant effect?
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I think it would have a significant effect ... but the effect would be negative and not positive. If the industrialized world puts restrictions on itself in the form of carbon taxes, etc. it will have the obvious effect of driving up their cost of production. However, the emerging markets like India and China will be all too happy to build more coal-fired generators to provide cheap energy to support their production capability. These coal-fired plants will not only produce as much or more CO2 as the ones that are either shut down or not built in the US and other industrialized countries, but they will also belch out significantly MORE conventional pollution.
The net result of this will be an even greater shifting of production (and jobs)from high cost countries like the US to low cost countries like China. There will be no decrease in CO2 emissions from the production, but there will be an increase in it from all of the ships that carry the stuff from China to the rest of the world. This is a lose-lose scenario for the US, a win-win for China and at best a break-even (but more likely, a lose) for the global climate.
The cynic in me says that if you were to follow the money that you would see the greenies being funded by China because they stand to win BIG if the West unilaterally performs economic disarmament.