Climate Change; Cap & Trade?

In the midst of an article on the McClatchy website about cap and trade proposals, I saw this little nugget:

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recognizes that something needs to be done, but it opposes the Lieberman-Warner bill and generally dislikes regulating emissions, said William L. Kovacs, its vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs."

In other words "something needs to be done about climate change, but by the other guy, not by us."

The bastards.

Actually, "bastards" substitutes in this case for "American capitalists." I qualify it that way because it is almost the unique nature of American business, where the stock market demands short-term profits, to not give a fuck about the long term. Make your profit now, even if it means running the business into the ground in the future, take your profit and bonuses, and get out, leaving the stockholders and the workers holding the bag.

Doing something about climate change will cost money now, letting it happen will cost a lot more a lot later. So the money managers and corporate executives opt to do nothing, for if the ice sheets melt and sea levels rise several feet, if not tens of feet, they'll all be dead by the time that happens. And if the worst possible scenario takes place, the belching of massive quantities of hydrogen sulfide from the oceans, they'll all be long dead and forgotten by then.

So what if humanity dies off? They've made their pile.