Pay No Attention to CEO’s and Paris

There is a lot of boo-hooing about Trump pulling out of the Paris Accord.  I don’t care if you believe, or discount global warming, the Paris Accord is a crappy agreement.  It also will do nothing to stop global warming.

CEO’s like Elon Musk said they were resigning from Trump’s CEO council.  It doesn’t matter to me if they are on it, or off of it.  I suppose if Trump wants Musk’s input all he has to do is call. What CEO doesn’t pick up the phone when the US President calls regardless of who that President is?

The real reason a lot of these CEO’s are upset isn’t the Paris Accord.  They are playing chess and looking down the line.  If scientists can prove that global warming isn’t caused by humans and is a natural occurrence, that will change public policy.  A lot of US based companies get subsidies from the US government.  Elon Musk’s entire company infrastructure is based on receiving subsidies.  None of his companies turn a profit and they’d be even deeper in the red if he didn’t acquire government largesse.  He and other American CEO’s don’t want the federal gravy train to end.

I am cool with ending all the subsidies.  Save American taxpayers billions and let markets allocate resources better.

There is a real crime in this whole Paris Accord consternation.  It is the fact that no one is talking about building tons of nuclear power plants.  There is no way for the two opposing sides to agree on global warming.  But, both sides should be able to agree on nuclear power.  It’s green.  It’s cheap.  It’s the right power source for an on-demand electricity grid and an information economy.