Bruce Sterling

The Chinese Carbon Tariff

(((I hope those Republican Senators are enjoying the
East Coast heatwave.)))

"In the Washington, D.C. area, scorching temperatures and stifling humidity are expected to also continue through Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to reach 95 to 100 degrees both days. It could feel more like 105 with the humidity."

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/forecast/2008-06-09-heatwave-east_N.htm

(((In other exciting news, an outclassed planet unites to destroy
China's "unstoppable" tech economy with carbon tariffs. If you don't think this makes economic sense, imagine the "economic sense" of trying to keep swampy Washington DC from drowning as China briskly melts Greenland.)))

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48684/story.htm

Link: Planet Ark : China Issue to Live on After US Carbon Bill Death .

China Issue to Live on After US Carbon Bill Death

US: June 9, 2008

NEW YORK - The US climate bill may be dead but one thorny element of it – possible tariffs on energy-intensive imports from rapidly developing countries like China – will fester as lawmakers form new greenhouse legislation.

Introduced to the US Congress by industrial players such as power utility American Electric Power and industrial worker unions, (((capital and labor, together at last to whack China))) the issue, also known as competitiveness in climate legislation, boils down to two ideas.

First, if the United States embarks on a carbon emissions reduction program, the placement of a tariff on imports of emissions-intensive goods like cement, steel and chemicals would ensure that China and other rapidly industrializing countries do their part on global warming. The tariff would aim to equal the price that US carbon regulation had added to the same products made domestically.

Second, such a tariff would prevent heavy US industries from relocating to other countries that don't regulate greenhouse gases to lower their operating costs... (((A good idea, but the USA can't tariff China alone. So ask everybody else who's afraid of Chinese competition, which means, well, everybody.)))