Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ Links (120705)
National Center for Public Policy Research Issues Important Paper on Climate Change
Toilet paper (pictured here):
The National Center for Public Policy Research is handing out “emissions credits” printed on toilet paper at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal today, to symbolize the failure of the Kyoto Protocol and the futility of emissions trading schemes.
Under the European Union’s “CO2 Emissions Trading Scheme,” companies are allotted credits that allow them to emit a fixed amount of carbon dioxide. Companies that reduce their carbon dioxide output, and thus don’t use all of their credits, can sell them to companies who are exceeding their C02 allotments.
As the flawed Kyoto treaty is all but dead (link added–Ed.), emissions credits aren’t likely to be of any value in the future.
“Emissions credits aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on,” said David Ridenour, Vice President of The National Center, “Unless, of course, that paper happens to be toilet paper.”
These people are having way too much fun.
But they should be smiling, because Kyoto is really, really, really dead. Even if you’re in “cloud-cuckoo-land.”
Good Economic News on a Key Measure
The more each person working produces, the better off everyone is over the long haul. And workers are producing more:
The Labor Department said nonfarm business productivity advanced at a 4.7 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the swiftest increase in two years.
The strong productivity gain pushed unit labor costs — a key gauge of profit and price pressure — down at a 1 percent pace despite a solid 3.7 percent rise in hourly compensation.
“Companies may be paying more for raw materials and energy, but that is at least partially being offset by lower unit labor costs. That, I think, is likely to keep inflation contained,” said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis.
Pretty remarkable, considering how many hours people spend reading blogs.
As If Needed: Two More Reasons to Oppose Any Kind of GM-Ford Adjustment Assistance Bailout
Reason 1: GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner’s whiny OpinionJournal.com column yesterday (may require registration):
Some argue that we have no one but ourselves to blame for our disproportionately high health-care “legacy costs.” That kind of observation reminds me of the saying that no good deed going unpunished. That argument, while appealing to some, ignores the fact that American auto makers and other traditional manufacturing companies created a social contract with government and labor that raised America’s standard of living and provided much of the economic growth of the 20th century. American manufacturers were once held up as good corporate citizens for providing these benefits. Today, we are maligned for our poor judgment in “giving away” such benefits 40 years ago.
Nice try, Rick. No sale. A lot of us began maligning you and the UAW beginning about 20-25 years ago for not seeing the long-term handwriting on the wall and doing something to address the healthcare and retirement welfare-state mentality that came to permeate your two companies. All three of you had plenty of time to adjust, but you chose instead to milk the present at the expense of the future.
Reason 2: An attempted bailout will prolong the agony, and cause the two companies to defer dealing with the next wave of cars from India (WSJ link requires subscription).
