Friday, January 6, 2012

Radical Environmentalism & Crony Capitalism

If you want to buy an airline ticket to vacation in Europe this summer, you are in for a rude awakening.  You won't have any problem getting a seat because many planes are currently pretty empty.  The reason is that European countries have added Carbon Footprint taxes to the price of an airline ticket.   So, if you would like to fly from Los Angeles to Rome round trip, you are likely to pay about $1,500.   About $700 of the price of that ticket are new taxes.  There used to be $100 - $200 in various airport taxes; but that was before Socialists in Europe discovered Global Warming as an excuse to impose a new tax.  

So, who are the winners and losers in this deal?   Obviously, any company or business associated with the travel industry will lose big because many tourists are now priced out of the market.   So in addition to the airlines, that are not particularly healthy anyway, that will lose customers, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, gift shops etc. etc. will lose business because of fewer tourists visiting their establishments.  This job killer could not come at a worse time in Europe as many of those countries are bankrupt.  Of course, given the chance, Socialist President Obama is doing the very same thing in the US as his Environmental Protection Agency, Obama's Gestapo, is doing everything it can to raise the price of energy in the US in the name of Global Warming. 

So, as a result of this carbon foot print tax in Europe, government will take money away from the private sector that will lose business as a result of this tax and jobs, so that governments can use this money to fund more government union employees, entitlements and crony capitalism.  In addition, European governments will spend this tax money on green energy that is not economically feasible without government support.  It is really an inefficient misallocation of resources that will do nothing to spur economic growth or create real jobs.    This is the Obama model and the reason we still have unemployment above 8% in the US for more than 36 months, with real unemployment if everyone is counted, above 15%.  

And, then there is the $40,000 Chevy Volt produced by bankrupt, bailed out GM.   This electric car, which apparently catches fire and has had to be recalled to fix problems, is another example of Obama picking winners and losers.   So far, only 7,000 Chevy Volts have been sold and many to government agencies.   To get rid of this piece of GM junk, the government has had to provide a $7,500 tax credit; because otherwise, there would be no buyers at all.   Clearly, if someone wants a hybrid, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have better models, often made in the US, that don't catch on fire, at far less money.  

Further, as a condition of the government bail out, GM was forced to rush the Volt into production so CEO Socialist President Obama could claim the success of an American electric car.   Like Solyndra, the GM deal has literally exploded in Obama's face.   More important, the bail outs of both GM and Chrysler did not save any jobs that would not have been saved by normal bankruptcy proceeding anyway.  What Obama did do was steal these companies from their legitimate owners, the bond holders and give them to the auto unions for nothing as a corrupt pay-off.   It was one of the biggest episodes of thievery in American history worse than the Bernie Madhoff scandal; yet Obama is not in jail.   And, in addition, in this case government invention, which always distorts markets, was very unfair to Ford and all foreign auto companies making cars in the US that did not take a tax payer funded bail out.

What we see around the world is Radical Environmentalism and Crony Capitalism in action.   Socialists in governments, including President Obama, want to pick winners and losers rewarding their friends, that contribute to their election campaigns and punishing their enemies that don't.   It is the both the oldest and newest form of corruption and incredibly corrosive.   We have got to take back our country in 2012 and 2014 by sweeping these Socialists, at all levels of government, including President Obama, out of office to stop Radical Environmentalism and Crony Capitalism from bankrupting and destroying our country.   We can do it.   We must do it to preserve our freedom, our nation and way of life for the sake of our children and grandchildren.  

Unfortunately, Europe may be too far gone unless thinking people rise up to end the Socialism that is destroying their countries.   Eastern Europe threw off Communism.  Now Western Europe must end the shackles of Socialism.  Time will tell if Europeans can make this happen, or if they are doomed to economic collapse, a lower standard of living and a loss of their freedoms.   Given European attitudes, I would not bet on a free market economy any time soon. 

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