Politics

Америка Трампа – страна-изгой

Jun 2, 2017 Joseph E. Stiglitz

НЬЮ-ЙОРК – Дональд Трамп бросил ручную гранату в глобальную экономическую систему, которая так кропотливо была выстроена в первые годы после Второй мировой войны. Попытки сломать систему глобального управления, основанную на правилах, (ярчайшим проявлением этих попыток стало решение Трампа вывести США из Парижского соглашения о климате 2015 года) являются лишь свежим примером более широкой атаки президента США на нашу базовую систему ценностей и институтов.

Мир очень медленно начинает понимать всё зло планов администрации Трампа. Он и его соратники подвергают атакам американскую прессу (этот жизненно важный институт, помогающий защищать свободы и права американцев, а также демократию) и называют её «врагом народа». Они пытаются подорвать фундамент наших знаний и убеждений (нашу эпистемологию), называя «фейком» всё, что противоречит их целям и аргументам, отрицая даже саму науку. Лживое оправдание Трампом своего отказа от Парижского соглашения о климате является лишь самым свежим свидетельством этого.

На протяжении тысячелетий, вплоть до середины XVIII века, качество жизни в мире стагнировало. Однако эпоха Просвещения, с её опорой на аргументированные суждения и научные исследования, открыла путь к колоссальному росту качества жизни в течение следующих двух с половиной веков.

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Joseph E. Stiglitz

Writing for PS since 2001
326 Commentaries

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and University Professor at Columbia University, is a former chief economist of the World Bank (1997-2000), chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and co-chair of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices. He is Co-Chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation and was lead author of the 1995 IPCC Climate Assessment.

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Bruno Berewono Jun 18, 2017

By the time Trump is done with America, guess everyone will be nursing their wounds
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Nirmalan Dhas Jun 13, 2017

The United States of America has emerged as a nation state controlled by the Dominant Dualist Perceptual Paradigm and its concomitant Dominant Dualist Development Paradigm AND its emergence as such signals the increase of a global HORIZONTAL struggle between this Dualist Perceptual Paradigm and an emergent Unitive one that horizontally splits not only Nation States BUT EVERY SOCIAL INSTITUTION including THE FAMILY!..It is no longer part of the global civilization of the species Homo sapiens and the species need no longer look to this state for leadership and orientation. It has in effect become a rogue state...committed to a dark nightmare formerly known as "The American Dream" that promises nothing other than the rapid demise of the species and the destruction of the planet that gave it life and sustains it.

This does not of course apply to individual citiizens of the United States of America. Individual Federal states may want to secede and they must be supported...Individuals and institutions and organizations may wish to continue to link up with the emerging Unitive Perceptual Paradigm and its Unitive Developmental Paradigm, and they must be welcomed and assisted...the EMERGENCE and gradual SUPERSESSION of the Dominant Dualist Perceptual Paradigm must be recognized and facilitated...and all those who share this perception should be helped to link up over the face of the planet to generate a GLOBAL NETWORK to jointly perceive possible futures and guide the planet to sustainability and resilience through the generation of a sustainable and resilient global civilization...we are witnessing the supersession of DVAITALOKA and the emergence of ADVAITALOKA....

It is a time of happiness and opportunity...and a time of great celebration amongst all those who have been watching and waiting and patiently and tirelessly working to facilitate this great shift in perception throughout the world...our lives and work have not been in vain....and yet it is also a time of sadness and of saying goodby to people who have chosen to throw in their lot with the past and its old destructive ways...along which they have chosen to continue walk in TRIUMPH with their great and pompous leader DONALD TRUMP!!! a most fateful and fitting symbol of the egotism and narcissistic self worth, authoritarianism, cult of personality, sexism and economic exploitation that has grown wildly over the past 15,000 years.
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Nirmalan Dhas Jun 12, 2017

The United States of America has emerged as a nation state controlled by the Dominant Dualist Perceptual Paradigm and its concomitant Dominant Dualist Development Paradigm AND its emergence as such signals the increase of a global HORIZONTAL struggle between this Dualist Perceptual Paradigm and an emergent Unitive one that horizontally splits not only Nation States BUT EVERY SOCIAL INSTITUTION including THE FAMILY!..It is no longer part of the global civilization of the species Homo sapiens and the species need no longer look to this state for leadership and orientation. It has in effect become a rogue state...committed to a dark nightmare formerly known as "The American Dream" that promises nothing other than the rapid demise of the species and the destruction of the planet that gave it life and sustains it.

This does not of course apply to individual citiizens of the United States of America. Individual Federal states may want to secede and they must be supported...Individuals and institutions and organizations may wish to continue to link up with the emerging Unitive Perceptual Paradigm and its Unitive Developmental Paradigm, and they must be welcomed and assisted...the EMERGENCE and gradual SUPERSESSION of the Dominant Dualist Perceptual Paradigm must be recognized and facilitated...and all those who share this perception should be helped to link up over the face of the planet to generate a GLOBAL NETWORK to jointly perceive possible futures and guide the planet to sustainability and resilience through the generation of a sustainable and resilient global civilization...we are witnessing the supersession of DVAITALOKA and the emergence of ADVAITALOKA....

It is a time of happiness and opportunity...and a time of great celebration amongst all those who have been watching and waiting and patiently and tirelessly working to facilitate this great shift in perception throughout the world...our lives and work have not been in vain....and yet it is also a time of sadness and of saying goodby to people who have chosen to throw in their lot with the past and its old destructive ways...along which they have chosen to continue walk in TRIUMPH with their great and pompous leader DONALD TRUMP!!! a most fateful and fitting symbol of the egotism and narcissistic self worth, authoritarianism, cult of personality, sexism and economic exploitation that has grown wildly over the past 15,000 years.
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Tran Bat Nguyen Jun 9, 2017

Trump has'n thrown a hand grenade. Trump himself is a hand grenade that created by the US's politic and the world environment
- Michael H. Jun 11, 2017
  
  Ben Bland of The Financial Times recently said doubts about Trump are driving Southeast Asia into the arms of China, and that China is putting the squeeze on countries like Singapore, who has tried to balance its relationship between both superpowers: “A resurgent China, emboldened by a U.S. retreat from the world stage under Mr Trump and Beijing’s victories in the South China Sea, is no longer willing to accept what it sees as double dealing by the likes of Singapore.”
  
  P.S. By the way, as a Vietnamese living in Vietnam, you might be aware that there's a widespread belief in Vietnam that Mr Le Hong Hiep is the "Principal Research Fellow" ("Nghiên cứu viên chính") at ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, despite the fact that his research position at ISEAS as "Fellow" appears on the bottom of the list of fellows comprising the Regional Strategic & Political Studies unit: https://web5.iseas.edu.sg/about-us/researchers/regional-strategic-political-studies/fellows
  
  Further comments can be founded here: http://nghiencuuquocte.org/2017/05/29/thu-tuong-nguyen-xuan-phuc-tham-co-hoi-va-thach-thuc/
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- Michael H. Jun 10, 2017
  
  On May 30, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn wrote in WSJ: "The president embarked on his first foreign trip with a clear-eyed outlook that the world is not a “global community” but an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage." , and then "Where our interests align, we are open to working together to solve problems and explore opportunities."
  
  Which means where interests diverge, the US would go alone. In light of Trump's withdrawal of the US from the Paris Accord, the above arguments are not fallacies if and only if the interest of the American people is served by Trump's Paris decision.
  
  Given Trump's track records of serial lying and fraudulent activities, it is hard to see if McMaster and Cohn 's claims has any credibility.
  
  PS As you're a Vietnamese, it might be worth noting that given the U.S selling out its South Vietnamese ally when the US Seventh Fleet rejected the request for military assitance against Chinese invasion of Paracel Islands in 1974, would the US do it again as the North Korea nuclear crisis escalates further and brings China and US together ?
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- Michael H. Jun 10, 2017
  
  In his recent speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said “We cannot and will not accept unilateral, coercive changes to the status quo” in the South China Sea. In light of the first better-late-than-never FONOP under Trump, his reassurance is simply not enough.
  
  While the Paris climate accord is not legally binding, Trump’s withdrawal of the US from it would only serve to undermine Mattis’s call for an international rules of law based order.
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- Michael H. Jun 10, 2017
  
  To be fair, Trump himself is a hand grenade that has been created by the GOP: Republican Greg Gianforte got charged of misdemeanor assault for body-slamming a Guardian reporter asking questions about his campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, then went on and won the Montana special election.
  
  How could a presidential candidate who has defrauded thousands of ordinary Americans under the fraudulent scam "Trump University" http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/23/news/trump-university-settlement-claims/index.html , and who has committed money-laundering under the fake "Trump Foundation": http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-donald-trump-shifted-kids-cancer-charity-money-into-his-business/ar-BBCfp1n then went on and won the US presidency ?
  
  How could the serial liar and fraudster Trump put the interests of Americans first with his “America First” slogan ? Simply another scam to fool those 46% Americans voters who voted for him. And yet by using Trump’s campaign slogans Greg Gianforte got elected.
  
  Not only Trump, but As a Trump surrogate who contradicted herself, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has made her a laughing stock of the diplomatic league.
  
  Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.11:15 AM – 6 Nov 2012
  
  Haley: “What I will tell you is that the regulations from the Paris agreement were disadvantaging our companies. The jobs were not attainable as long as we had to live under those regulations. It wasn’t possible to meet the conditions under the Paris agreement. We’ve got a president who is going to watch out for the environment. The rest of the world wanted to tell us how to do it and we’re saying we will do it but under our terms.”
  
  Tapper: “the standards were set by the United States for the United States.”
  
  Haley: “No, the standards were set by President Obama,”
  
  Tapper: “My point is that you said the world is imposing standards on the United States. President Obama, the president of the United States at the time, set the standards.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR1df55Gdx4
  
  In the same video, Haley claimed that Trump “believes the climate is changing” despite the fact has Trump has claimed that climate change is a “hoax” invented by the Chinese to steal American jobs. Until nobody else but Haley comes to the rescue: “he believes pollutants are part of the equation”.
  
  Then came another false assertion by Haley: “Just because the U.S. got out of a club doesn’t mean we aren’t going to care about the environment”.
  
  One needs to look no further than Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal which proposes the following
  
  – cutting the Energy Department’s energy programs by $3.1 billion;
  
  – cutting the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy a 69%;
  
  – the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a program that funds research into algae biofuels or advanced batteries facing elimination; and
  
  – the Office of Fossil Energy, which invests in techniques to scrub carbon dioxide from coal plants and bury it underground, facing a 85% cut to its carbon-capture efforts.
  
  And all those cuts come on top of Trump’s order to dismantle the Clean Power Plan.
  
  So the question is: as serial lying is a way of governing by Trump’s America, how would the world deal with his administration ?
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Michael H. Jun 9, 2017

MAKE CHINA GREAT AGAIN - Trump Lies. China Thrives.

As a serial liar, Trump's claimed he pulled out of Paris Accord to negotiate a better deal. Given ex-FBI director James Comey said in his testimony that Trump "lies, plain and simple' , would the world be willing to deal with this seria-liar-in-chief ?
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G. A. Pakela Jun 7, 2017

The American public accords no more trust in the press than it does in Trump himself, according to the polls. Perhaps this is because journalism has completely obliterated the line between editorial commentary and opinion and simply reporting the news. Today's crop of newscasters would not be mistaken for Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Humanities departments in universities have themselves rejected Enlightenment and Renaissance principle in lieu of victims studies. Does anyone today entering a major university has to take a course showing how Western civilization evolved from a group of poor, illiterate fiefdoms to societies that have embraced Enlightenment principles, and whose economies have largely eliminated the kind of poverty that was routine in prior centuries? And where is the rigor in climate science such that we should trust the most apocalyptic projections? We are presented not with compelling evidence, but constant appeals to authority and ad hominem attacks for questioning the "consensus."
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Wayne Davidson Jun 6, 2017

Certain of its own infallible rectitude America has pursued its foreign policy with the adamancy of the self righteous- without regard to immorality of retrospective consequence.
Today the aftermath of America's profligate foreign policy is being acted out around the world and people are surprised by Trumps decision to opt-out of the paris climate agreement.
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David Crosby Jun 6, 2017

Interesting that no one disagrees with a single point. It is great that "Europe needs to decide for itself how much it needs to spend on defense." They did sign a treaty agreeing to spend 2% of GDP on their own defense. Perhaps it is insignificant that in a recent battlefield exercise, members of the German army used to broomsticks painted black to simulate the machine guns they do not have.
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Robert O'Regan Jun 6, 2017

The enlightenment was not really the greatest advance
in human development...We should look to the opinions of other experts turned "town philosopher" as well. huh?
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Sergio Alvarez Jun 6, 2017

asdf
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Marc Torras Jun 6, 2017

Today in Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post:

"How China overtook the US in championing climate change"
"Can China fill leadership void left by Trump?"

So it's not about melting ice, it's about world leadership. You retire the US from all major global pacts, China is more than ready to take the baton.

They probably never thought it would be so easy though...
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P. Kamath Jun 5, 2017

Nice to know that there are people like the good professor Stglitz who makes a penetrating analysis of Trump's grandiosity and his Raj. Thanks a lot.
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Jose araujo Jun 5, 2017

Great piece, nice to see that such a prominent economist shares the humanist values.

A beacon of light in this troubles times. Very nice to know, thanks Prof. Stiglitz
- P. Kamath Jun 7, 2017
  
  Senhor: You used the right word here. The Prof. Is a good humanist.
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j. von Hettlingen Jun 4, 2017

Joseph E. Stiglitz should change his title. Instead of "Trump's rogue America" it should be "America's rogue Trump," because America has a problem with Trump, not vice versa. He had lied his way to the top, and more than 50% of Americans reject him. Luckily, "most Americans still believe in Enlightenment values, accept the reality of global warming, and are willing to take action." What is clear is that it requires decades to convince Trump and his small-minded, ignorant supporters, that the existential threat posed by climate change is real, and that a "reasoned debate" is urgently needed.
The author says, "the rest of the world cannot let a rogue US destroy the planet." Indeed, he can rest assured that we will not let Trump and his greedy lawmakers poison the world. Trump's "unenlightened" policies that focus on his "America First" agenda are both myopic and selfish. Under the hypocritical pretext of regaining America's sovereignty and defending domestic energy production and jobs, he and congressional Republicans help polluters in oil and gas industry - they are big GOP donors - maximise gains and asserting dominance.
According to the author, there is a way to show Trump what the global community stands for - altruism, trust, cooperation and virtue. "If he wants to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, the rest of the world should impose a carbon-adjustment tax on US exports that do not comply with global standards." The problem is that he will become vindictive when it comes to defending business interests in which he and "his other gilded rent-seekers" have a stake. He will most likely take actions to retaliate.
Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Accord has encouraged Europe and China to forge closer ties and deepen their "commitment to a green future" - a win-win solution "for the planet" and "for the economy." The European Union will assume moral leadership, advocating solidarity and huminity. What Trump oversees is that people tend to cooperate and have a set of universal intuitions that help establish harmony between them. There is no doubt that "Europe and Asia will achieve an almost insurmountable advantage over the US in the green technologies of the future." As Germany invests heavily in "technology and education," it wil have a "distinct advantage in advanced manufacturing over a US hamstrung by Republican ideology."
Europenas have also learned that Trump gravitates toward autocratic leaders and Arab despots. They all share his dirty-minded pragmatism that life is a selfish struggle for wealth, power and glory. Europe "can’t rely on a Trump-led US for its defense." The author urges Europe to "recognize that the Cold War is over – however unwilling America’s industrial-military complex is to acknowledge it." He advises NATO countries to ignore America's demand for spending 2% of their GDP on military.
"While fighting terrorism is important and costly, building aircraft carriers and super fighter planes is not the answer. Europe needs to decide for itself how much to spend, rather than submit to the dictates of military interests." Trump doesn't know that a country can't rely totally on its military capabilities to thrive. It needs to invest in human resources as well and meet the challenges posed by this ever changing world. "Political stability may be more surely gained by Europe’s recommitment to its social-democratic economic model" than by its military might.
- Steve Hurst Jun 5, 2017
  
  j. von Hettlingen
  
  Or you could say America got what it voted for and the reason Trump got the ticket is because Americans wanted something changed and didnt believe the other ticket choice would do that. Nobody who listened to Trump on the stump could have any illusions as to what he was about. When an American walks down a Homeland street nearly every other person they meet has voted for Trump. Are you saying they are all stupid. As for the US military complex, from the NY Times DEC. 26, 2016 - 'The United States again ranked first in global weapons sales last year, signing deals for about $40 billion, or half of all agreements in the worldwide arms bazaar.' Main customer base is ME. Trump is just keeping up traditional US activities. There is not that much new about Trump, just tweets of covfefe
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- Curtis Carpenter Jun 5, 2017
  
  Or you could read the title as an observation that Trump has turned America into a rogue state -- again, since George W. Bush did it first in this magnificent century of ours.
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- P. Kamath Jun 5, 2017
  
  j. von Hettlingen : Very well said.
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Curtis Carpenter Jun 4, 2017

You write "When Trump attacked in response, the majority of Americans felt the press had it coming, as indeed they did."

You have no basis for that claim. It's another "alternate fact" that Donald Trump and his supporters seem incapable of living without. It's a big reason why Trump's approval ratings, according to the last Gallup tracking poll, is 36% and trending downward.
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Craig Nelsen Jun 4, 2017

"He and his cronies have attacked the US press – a vital institution for preserving Americans’ freedoms, rights, and democracy – as an 'enemy of the people.'"

A watchdog press, yes, unimpressed by the trappings of power, delighting in skewering the powerful, that press is vital to self-government. That press is not what we have today. It is not the press the voters saw during this last campaign. The press we have today is a hostile alien press that Americans do not trust. The attacks on Trump by the MSM is a primary reason Trump won. When Trump attacked in response, the majority of Americans felt the press had it coming, as indeed they did.
- Jose araujo Jun 5, 2017
  
  Not the majority of americans, I think you have math problems...maybe Math is against you also....
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Marc Torras Jun 4, 2017

It's not about rain, it's about politics, leadership, cooperation. Trump is giving world leadership to Chinese in a golden platter...
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Jack Harllee Jun 4, 2017

"The good news is that the majority of Americans are not with Trump." True enough, but highly misleading. Last November Americans elected a Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican President. They increased the Republican share of governorships and state legislatures. Republicans generally opposed the Paris agreement. The American people knew that and elected them anyway. That's the hard, inconvenient truth. If Trump gets removed from the Presidency, that will do nothing helpful about the issue. The obsessive focus on Trump is a distraction. It is necessary to make the American people not just believe in anthropogenic global warming, but care enough about it to affect their vote.
- Craig Nelsen Jun 5, 2017
  
  "It is necessary to make the American people not just believe in anthropogenic global warming, but care enough about it to affect their vote."
  
  We're going to vote our way to a stable climate? Please. Globalist fear mongering over climate change is all about centralization of power. If y'all were REALLY concerned that the climate is "changing" and that humans were playing a (negative) role in that change, you'd be throwing yourselves into an effort to reduce African population growth. But it's not really about climate change, it's about power, and who wants to harness the power of Africa? No one, yet. So she is ignored, and the problem continues to grow.
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Paul Friesen Jun 4, 2017

I definitely support the idea of a carbon adjustment tax on goods produced by any country that tries to free-ride on the climate change efforts of others. Countries that do this should not be allowed to profit from their selfishness and greed.
- Jose araujo Jun 5, 2017
  
  We has consumers can do that. I know I do.
  
  You vote everyday with your wallets..~
  
  When Telas consumers stop buying Mr. Musk cars, lets see how long it takes for Elon to come around...
  
  Remember Uber...
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Chris Jones Jun 4, 2017

Mr. Trump made the right decision on the Paris Climate Accord.
Earth is a book where only a few pages are known.Scientists can't with certainty tell you what caused the end of the last ice age in which melting ice inundated the world in floods of biblical proportions.The oceans remain 400 feet (120 meters) higher to this day.It wasn't global warming caused by CO2 for sure.Many speculate that Milankovitch orbital cycles, volcanism, impacts, or the release of methane from blue ice may have caused it.The scientists don't know, yet the AGW "experts" predict accelerated global warming with absolute certainty.Bah!
If the history of climate change is cyclical and we are doomed to repeat it, we are more likely to experience a Little Ice Age comparable to a Dalton or Maunder Minimum starting in late 2019 as the solar sunspot cycle continues a downward trend.
Granted we can seed clouds for rain, make deserts bloom, dam rivers, create lakes, and fill the air with smoke full of nasty particulates, but the AGW proponents model(s) of the future climate are about as reliable as a bone throwing shaman.
Our Little Red Hen of a President needs to continue his work in getting this country ready for the foreign, domestic, and climatic challenges ahead.His detractors will remain in their Griffin moments or blame the Russians for their rotten lot in life...whatever! They need to throw another log on the fire and chill out!
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Craig Nelsen Jun 4, 2017

What a lot of nonsense. When President Trump pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement, he was keeping a campaign promise to the country that elected him president. Mr Stiglitz thinks that is "malevolent". I'm hoping it is an idea that catches on with other elected leaders.
Mr Stiglitz also believes pulling out of the global climate accord is a rejection of science. On the contrary, those who support the Paris accords are the real science deniers. Supporters of the accords would have us believe that spending billions of dollars to fly climate mandarins to conferences in luxury hotels in exotic locales where goals for reducing carbon emissions by a few points can be hammered out, then suggested to signatory countries, will make some sort of a difference , Meanwhile, they ignore the real environmental problem: the population of Africa is set to reach four billion by the end of this century. Every single person in the west could ditch their cars and only use cloth bags at the supermarket, and it won't mean diddly-squat given African population growth. None of the harpies and science-deniers excoriating Donald Trump for pulling out of Paris ever addresses that issue.
Mr. Stiglitz bemoans the administration's assault on the globalist order. The globalist order can also be called centralized power, and that's all the Paris climate accords were--a grab for power paid for by the people from whom the power was being grabbed.
I found it a little off-putting of Mr. Stiglitz that he notes the "justifiable economic discontent " many Americans feel, then advocates the same globalist system that is at the root of that discontent.
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Nilson B. Nunes Jun 4, 2017

I read a comment that I thought was relevant (Source:https://www.facebook.com/antonio.gastao.5?fref=nf&pnref=story). I shall quote it in its entirety as follows:
"Let's face it, now. What have you read about human-induced" climate change "beyond apocalyptic alarmism on TV?

Does anyone remember the 1970s, when the great ghost was the advent of a new Ice Age?

Does anyone remember that, a few years ago, the great ghost was Global Warming?

Has anyone noticed that they stopped talking about Global Warming and started talking about Climate Change (since they have no idea, really, what will happen ...)?

Until then, it is enough to use the memory and the common sense to suspect that it has stone in that angu. But there's more ...

Everyone has seen images of skinny polar bears balancing precariously over small blocks of ice in the sea, but have they seen NASA data that the polar ice sheet is actually increasing?

Has anyone there read about the 300-year period of global warming that happened from year 950 to about 1250 in the middle ages when there was no industrial activity and burning of fuel even remotely similar to what we have today? It's about the time the Vikings occupied that huge, ice-covered island we know as Greenland (which they called Greenland, as it is still in English, Greenland, that cold island had a mild climate like that of Europe ).

Have you read about the "financial repression" applied to scientists who want to publish research that runs counter to alarmist propaganda?

Have you read anything about the role of solar activity over Earth's temperature?

Well ... All right. Enough.

If you answered NO to all of this, you may not be making a fair judgment on the American exit of the Paris Accord. "
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Nilson B. Nunes Jun 4, 2017

Is there a "historical series", scientific and reliable, about global warming? (If yes, please enter the link here).
- Nilson B. Nunes Jun 4, 2017
  
  Dados recentes in https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-study-mass-gains-of-antarctic-ice-sheet-greater-than-losses
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Procyon Mukherjee Jun 4, 2017

Trump is serving the constituency that is predicated on the premise of self-denial; he is consistently serving this constituency to the peril of a self serving prophecy that on one hand is regressive and on the other narrowly repudiating whatever America stands for.
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Carl Buzawa Jun 4, 2017

Stiglitz may be a world renowned economist, but the idea of Europe trying to impose a "carbon adjustment tax" on the USA is silly, and in fact counterproductive.
Nothing could make the bulk of the US support Trump, than having nations like Germany, impose a tariff on our goods. Play it out as any good political economist should. The first order is that the EU imposes a tariff. The second order consequence is roughly 1 day later Trump proposes and the Republican Congress rubber-stamps countervailing tariffs on all EU goods for the "outrageous attack on US sovereignty since the EU fully knew that BHO had no legal right to sign a legally binding treaty without securing the "advice and consent of the Senate" --which he did not do, terming it merely an unenforcable agreement.

Britain , by the way, at least under May, would never agree, so this drives even more of a wedge between GB and the EU. Now in such a tariff war whether the rate is 10%-20% or whatever would you want to be the US or Germany which currently sells substantially over twice as much as they buy from the USA. The EU would have to retreat, looking stupid and ineffectual
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Michael Parsons Jun 4, 2017

There can be no 'rules-based system of global governance' because America claims ots 'exceptionalism' in the name of its own righteousness. - even if a 'rules-based system' were possible or even made sense, since politics is about changing rules, not complying with them.
This article is a victim of the strange fantasies of the 'Age of Reason', which neglected the wider aspects of human existence, and has since been corrected by the emergence of our understanding of History as a succession of unique events that make society what it momentarily is.
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Kevin Remillard Jun 4, 2017

https://www.cato.org/blog/statement-us-withdraw-paris-climate-treaty
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Egil Ulateig Jun 4, 2017

Mr. Stiglitz, I agree completely with your views, but have two points to stress the necessity, but also possibility of "resistance." Many European politicans and intellectuals say: Yes he is mad, but we need America and maintain clause 5 in the NATO-agreement. I live in Norway and am disgusted with the servility shown, as always, towards the American leadership, no matter what it does around the world. The European leaders and others should now find ways of hurting Trump. But that will also hurt the American people, is one of the arguments. But it is the continuance of Trump stupidity that will hurt Americans most. It is like the boycott of Iraque. The other thing is that history has placed a great responsiblity in this situation on the Americans to remove this luncatic, first of all by organizing peoples movements in many different fields, not only discussions on television shows.
- Steve Hurst Jun 4, 2017
  
  Egil
  
  Perhaps if NATO members including Norway actually spent the 2% they agree to on defense they would not have to be subservient
  
  http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-11
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Michael H. Jun 4, 2017

FAKE "AMERICA FIRST": Giving Trump's track record of defrauding thousands of ordinary American under his fake Trump University, anyone here love to be lied to that Trump's Paris decision serves the interest of the American people ?
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Enrique Woll Battistini Jun 4, 2017

A Constitutional Reform curtailing the out-of-bounds presidential Powers is clearly required in the U.S., a notion that clearly, also, has not yet dawned in the minds of its approximately 330 million citizens being steadily shoved in the context grotesque socioeconomic inequality, and political disenfranchisement, towards the cliff of irreversible poverty and all that it entails, except, of course, for the 0.0i% of the population that prospers from Trump's astonishingly callous philosophy and actions as Supreme Leader. Only The People of the U.S. can restore the quickly-vanishing enlightenment values that have characterized them since the U.S. Constitution was approved after Independence, and reinstate the notable wisdom in leadership that the country has exercised on the world stage since Woodrow Wilson's failed attempt -in Congress- at creating the League of Nations, even when a majority of victorious nations was backing the notion after "The Great War," and thus regain control of their destiny. Trump is not the U.S., The People are.
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Per Kurowski Jun 3, 2017

But the Paris Climate Agreement is also a shameful and dangerous illusion of a solution.

http://teawithft.blogspot.ca/2017/06/to-sell-paris-climate-agreement-as-real.html
- Curtis Carpenter Jun 4, 2017
  
  Something better as an ideal solution? Or something better as a practically achievable agreement?
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- Per Kurowski Jun 3, 2017
  
  So is not something better than voluntary compliance needed? Like a revenue neutral carbon tax? http://ourpiedaterre.blogspot.com/2017/04/solutions-that-share-out-all-benefits.html
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- Curtis Carpenter Jun 3, 2017
  
  The accord was the beginning of a process of voluntary compliance, not a "solution." The climate goals set by the Paris accord were never described as a "solution" either.
  
  You are sadly misinformed.
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Peter Burgess Jun 3, 2017

I see President Trump as almost totally wrong in almost everything he does, but probably more dangerous is what he is able to accomplish rather quietly by the various appointments he is able to make from Supreme Court Justices to all sorts of people through the Federal system whose names will rarely be in the national news but whose decisions actually matter.
With regard to the idea that the Trump team does not understand the workings of the whole economy, I totally agree, but unfortunately the academic community that might understand how it works has failed for decades to describe in an understandable practical way what needs to be done to address the problems. The system is complex, and it is only going to be a systemic solution that will improve things.
I see using GDP, corporate profits and stock market prices as the measure of economic success to be a recipe for society to fail and for the environment to degrade catastrophically. More and more people are talking about these issues, but it is high time we launched new metrics for ALL of these things. I don't see this happening either with accountancy profession nor academic economists ... but with the same old same old metrics of GDP growth, business profit and stock prices we will get the same old same old economic performance ... and the appearance of Trump as an intellectual giant (American style)!
Peter Burgess ... http://truevaluemetrics.org
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Steve Hurst Jun 3, 2017

daniele

Yes there is, a disgruntled Potemkin Villager
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Michael H. Jun 3, 2017

MAKE CHINA GREAT AGAIN !

Trump is emerging as a true leader of “hoax” climate change now that he’s withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, thereby leading the two other nations as non participating nations, which are Syria and Nicaragua, and which comparatively produce only a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions that the US does.

Problem is, unlike Trump’s America , Syria and Nicaragua’s non-paricipation isn’t because they believe climate change is a “Chinese hoax” .

In the case of war-torn Syria, it’s impossible for its government to commit to limiting Syria’s climate emissions due to a civil war. Nicaragua, on the other hand, didn’t join the Paris climate accord because it believes rich countries should pay more for climate change, as they were historically responsible for causing more damage to the environment and developing nations such as Nicaragua would be the worst hit.

Here we go, Trump is now emerging as a true leader – not on the world scene when he was caught on camera pushing past the prime minister of Montenegro during the NATO gathering to be at the front for the group photograph – but as a true leader of an isolated nation. Just like the isolated North Korea with its “true leader” Kim Jong-un who has been praised by Trump as a smart cookie.

While the Paris climate accord is not legally binding, Trump’s withdrawal of the US from it would only serve to undermine US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s call for an international rules of law based order during his speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue.

In deed, the longer Trump holds on to his presidency the greater again he makes China.
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Nick Chao Jun 3, 2017

Since reading "The Price of Inequality" your presage of the chapter 5 in that book is extraordinarily looming .
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Rob Momper Jun 3, 2017

You may have actually underestimated the ultimate reaction to this and future decisions by the Trump administration.
The rhetoric of climate-change has characterized the crisis as an existential one.
With this decision, Trump has thrown down the gauntlet, "try to survive without the God Blessed USA!!1!!"
Then the REST of the G-27 countries can decide if they can save the planet without the US on board.
If they decide they cannot then the choice is between capitulation and war. Either ride the Trump comet into the Sun or begin the Last War.
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Liz Connor Jun 3, 2017

But Europe doesn't have the answer either. I think the only hope for our beautiful world is DiEM25. Check them out on the Web. Lovely, hopeful stuff.
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Brent Beach Jun 2, 2017

It is not that Trump and his cabal don't know that what they are dong will have a serious negative impact on most Americans.
It is that they just don't care.
- Walter Gingery Jun 3, 2017
  
  Precisely!
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- Thomas Pitt Jun 3, 2017
  
  Brent: It isn't that "they just don't care." Given their Ayn Randian perspective (world as a zero sum game, with them using their position in power to dominate), they want to profit from it (financially and imposing their enduring control of the system. David Brooks has a good perspective on this in his op.ed. article in the NY Times, June 2, "Axis of Selfishness."
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Steve Hurst Jun 2, 2017

Trump is the outcome of the failed policy that preceded him, but that never seems to be mentioned by those unhappy with Trump who seem to want to return to a golden age that never existed
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Andrew (Andy) Crow Jun 2, 2017

Fortunately it matters not a jot whether Trump says the US is in or out of the Paris Climate Change agreement. Without the US it might be able to make some progress and the move towards sustainable power generation will will ride on market forces. The die is cast.

The progress and economic prosperity of the nation is not reliant on the vagaries, whims and foot dragging of politicians. They catch up eventually.
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Curtis Carpenter Jun 2, 2017

When did Clinton equate the "white working class" with her "deplorables?" It's telling if that's how you remember it.
- P. Kamath Jun 3, 2017
  
  Curtis: Sorry for misplacing my comment!
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- Curtis Carpenter Jun 2, 2017
  
  Sorry, that was supposed to be in reply to Jerry F. Hough.
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- P. Kamath Jun 2, 2017
  
  She ñever referred to "white .." class at all. It was directed to many misogynistic , homophobic, jingoistic etc.Trumpys, in one of her political rallies!
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Jerry F. Hough Jun 2, 2017

Stiglitz seems to have lost track of the last 25 years. There was the time that he spoke for the positive role of government (that is what he won his Nobel for ), correctly denounced Summers for his Hayek-like foreign and economic policy, denounced inegalitarianism. He said Iraq would cost $3 trillion.,

The Establishment dd not respond, but became worse. Obama was run by Summers and Rubin. Secretary of Treasury Law headed the division that did Cit's most risky investments, and his Undersecretary for Foreign Economic was head of foreign currency speculation at Citi. Obama wanted to appoint Summers head of the Fed. When the Democrats refused to confirm and forced him to pick a woman, he chose Stanley Fischer (VP of Citi) as the real Fed chair. Syria and Libya were more inexcusible than Iraq and the refugees tore EU apart.

When neither the Democrats or Republicans responded to Stiglitz analysis, Trump was the inevitable consequence. If he fails, the next one will be worst.

So naturally Stiglitz should have said "I told you so" and called for change. Instead he is saying that he was always a Summer behind the veneer or has become one. He repeats the Goldwaterite Hillary's talking points--the Hillary who said the white working class are simply the deploribles.

Say "It ain't so," Joe, as they said about another sad case 100 years ago..
- P. Kamath Jun 3, 2017
  
  Jerry F Hough: You say,"...the Hillary who said the 'white' working class are simply the deploribles. ..."
  Rubbish, she never said that. Why do you falsify Hilary's statement?k. I watched every debates of Trump vs Hillary. I suggest you search on UTube or google and he shall find the fact.
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- M M Jun 2, 2017
  
  Jerry, 100% correct, Trump is the inevitable consequences of BO/HC policies and actions. If he does not deliver, the one after him shall be by far a lot worst!
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Curtis Carpenter Jun 2, 2017

Stiglitz states the case well -- but he fails to allocate enough of his disgust to the Republicans in the House and Senate that continue to cheer Donald Trump on, or the sycophantic Trump believers that continue to support him.

Trump is old, and will die soon in the natural course of events. Not soon enough perhaps, but soon. The same can't be said about the current Republican legislators (who have contributed nothing to the welfare of the people of the United States for many years now), or our fellow citizens that can swallow Trump's approach to "making America great again" without gagging.

We often sadly say that Trump marks "the end of the American century." But in point of fact, Trump may mark the beginning of a destructive NEW American century that ushers in the reality of a Hobbesian state of nature in which everyone's life is increasingly solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
- Curtis Carpenter Jun 3, 2017
  
  I don't doubt that you have a significant emotional commitment to that magnificently distorted narrative Hank. But do you really believe that Donald Trump is going to a)increase white (!) American's life spans, b) boost middle class incomes (definition required) to 1980 levels, and c) materially reduce income inequality in the United States? Really?
  
  As to the Hobbesian state of nature, I suspect that you don't have much contact with the real world. Ask somebody in Mosul, Allepo or Port-au-Prince what they think of how tough your current existence is. Be prepared to have them laugh in your face and perhaps call you some unpleasant things though.
  
  I will concede that you and your kind may very well represent the New American, perpetually whiney, with no sense of history or the world, and easily manipulated by anyone who promises to cure your inadequacies and solve all your problems for you.
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- Hank Bones Jun 3, 2017
  
  "But in point of fact, Trump may mark the beginning of a destructive NEW American century that ushers in the reality of a Hobbesian state of nature in which everyone's life is increasingly solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
  
  At the time Donald Trump came to power, white Americans' lifespans were on the decline, the middle class had a real income lower than what it had in the 1980s, and income inequality was at its highest point in American history. Your Hobbesian state of nature existed - it achieved full fruition under Trump's predecessor.
  
  The real question is, does the throwing off of stifling progressive orthodoxy and the embrace of sound negotiation, fair deals rather than self-sacrificing ones, and a return to the sorts of policies that enabled the golden age of America, from 1880 to 1950, mean the U.S. will become a worse place to live - or better?
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- P. Kamath Jun 2, 2017
  
  Michael Public: Mao died old and Mugabe too. Trump has acquired cfrom them a streak of crass authoritarianism . .
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- Curtis Carpenter Jun 2, 2017
  
  It's possible of course Michael, but statistically unlikely. I guess it will depend on how severely the Gods want to punish us.
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- Michael Public Jun 2, 2017
  
  "Trump is old, and will die soon..."
  
  We used to say that about Robert Mugabe, now 93 years old.
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Paul Daley Jun 2, 2017

Stiglitz dodges the question of how those committed to a rules-based system of global governance should deal with a rules-based system of national governance. The US Constitution sets clear limits on what the President can and can't do. Americans themselves will call Trump to account, if he goes beyond limits allowed in the Constitution. But the actions of most concern to the world -- pulling out of TPP and the Paris Climate Accord, questioning the Iran nuclear agreement and the commitment of other NATO nations to their own defense -- are all constitutional. There is nothing "rogue" about questioning the judgment of your predecessor, particularly when those decisions rest only on his judgment and have never been locked in by legislative action.

Americans have strong opinions about policy positions, but they are even more committed to the rule of law. They will deal with Trump if he really does go rogue, but they're hardly likely to be stampeded into action by complaints from abroad about the policy positions the President has taken.
- Marc Laventurier Jun 3, 2017
  
  ". . . and Pangloss sometimes used to say to Candide: —All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds; for, after all, if you had not been driven from a fine castle by being kicked in the backside for love of Miss Cunégonde, if you hadn’t been sent before the Inquisition, if you hadn’t traveled across America on foot, if you hadn’t given a good sword thrust to the baron, if you hadn’t lost all your sheep from the good land of Eldorado, you wouldn’t be sitting here eating candied citron and pistachios.
  —That is very well put, said Candide, but we must go and work our garden."
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- M M Jun 2, 2017
  
  Paul, the Rules are , there are no Rules, if there were any fair rules, humanity would not have been in the current state that it is currently in.
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Michael Public Jun 2, 2017

Much ado about nothing.
1) Renewables are already cheaper and within 10 years will be half or lower cost than closest fuel based energy.
2) Widespread electric cars and automated car/ride sharing in 10 years.
3) No country (other than a few wealthy germanic/scandanvian ones) were actually planning to stick to the Paris agreement anyway - there is no reliable trace-ability of emissions and national economics is at stake.
4) 2 degrees is going to be a disaster for certain areas and refugees will move - 100's of millions will attempt to migrate.
5) Global warming works on CUMULATIVE c02 - even if we cut emissions to half current levels we will still reach 2 degrees in time, then 3 degrees and then 10 degrees. Until we start with zero C02 emmisions worldwide the a climate disaster is just a matter of time.
- M M Jun 2, 2017
  
  Mike, JES is trying to defend the old world order of which he was part, times have moved a long way since.
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jagjeet sinha Jun 2, 2017

THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE ESTABLISHMENT
In the months preceding his victory, The Establishment and The Media exposed all of TRUMP - to ensure HRC won.
Donald Trump was presented exactly as he really was - there was no charade, HRC was clearly a show that people saw through.
The striking similarities with the Brexit Referendum was more than coincidental - The Enlightened World disapproved of Brexit.
Despite The Establishment disapproval - both Brexit and Brexit plus plus happened. People are not stupid.
Democracy allows people to explore their deepest sentiments - and VOTE for the best of options available.
Hillary was clearly MORE OF THE SAME. Americans wanted a departure from their predicaments.
There was a reason why The Enlightenment of The Establishment was rejected.
Not only in America and Britain - but in India in 2014 ushering in Modi - and in France in 2017, The Establishment Parties were out.
So, the need from Nobel Laureates is for greater understanding - why The Enlightenment of The Establishment was voted out.

Seven Decades of Darkness had marginalized India's Heartlands - The Modi Mandate galvanized The Truth.
Britain had suffered progressive marginalization inside The European Union - Brexit recognized The Truth.
TRUMP was an attempt by America's Heart to remedy a disease - that The Establishment had no cure for.
France in 2017 understood that European Union was The German Commonwealth in reality - Macron means Vichy France not wanted.
Perhaps The Enlightenment needed - is a departure from Conventional Wisdom.
There has to be a reason - when One door shuts, another is opened.
JS

PS Hint - The Dow would not have crossed 20 000 even if President Clinton tried.
- jagjeet sinha Jun 4, 2017
  
  You are right in suggesting that Trump MAY HURT those whose support gave him the mandate.
  Richard Nixon was similarly pilloried by The Fifth Column - and ultimately faced Watergate.
  Nixon responded - unlike Trump, each according to their DNA - with Genius, that changed the World.
  The PetroDollars have extended America's Superpower Status - that DeGaulle+Chirac were determined to supplant with PetroEuros.
  TRUMP responses so far still appear puerile - but hold your horses - and perhaps the Genius is still to show up.
  For someone to have come so far - and not leave a legacy like Nixon, is highly unlikely.
  To be fair to Trump, he must be allowed to leave that footprint - because it may turn out to even greater than Nixon.
  Up to Americans ultimately - all politics always local.
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- Jagan Rampal Jun 4, 2017
  
  Right Jagjeet, the resentment won. But the issue here is, should resentment be adopted as a state policy? The elite have their lesson, but continued 'bull in the china shop' attitude could wreck the lives of the very people, whose resentment brought you to the fore.
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P. Kamath Jun 2, 2017

How can carbon adjustment tax work As a tool here? It is a myth that this act will create in coal industries and it is better to train workers in other sectors, especially in service industry .
- Per Kurowski Jun 3, 2017
  
  It’s not just for banks, but also for all other sorts of green profiteering abusers, who might make it unaffordable for the world to combat climate change effectively.
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- Hank Bones Jun 3, 2017
  
  It's not for the climate. It's for the banks:
  
  https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/banks-key-to-determining-success-of-paris-climate-deal
  
  It's what this whole thing was ultimately about. And it's part of why the global elite are so furious Trump through a monkey wrench into the plan. (the other part being, obviously, the depowering of the U.S. and empowering of the third world this treaty was supposed to effect)
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