LA Times "Green" Journalism

"Green" is the new "yellow" journalism.

The LA Times has an editorial today about greenhouse gas regulation and in it they claim:

"The California Air Resources Board recently released a study concluding that the state's economy will grow faster as a result of its mandate to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases, increasing our gross state product by $4 billion by the time the program is completed in 2020. The states that don't act now [to regulate CO2] will be more susceptible to higher energy prices because they won't have become more energy efficient; they'll have higher health expenditures because of their dirtier air; and they'll have to buy technological innovations from states such as California, where they're being developed."

Where to begin? We already know that the Cal AIr Resources Board's analysis is based on fraudulent accounting.

The assumption that states that don't sign on to this economic suicide (the Western Climate Initiative) pact won't become more energy efficient is ridiculous. American industry gets more energy efficient every year without any government intervention.

Why would those states have dirtier air? Maybe they would and maybe they wouldn't. Will the air quality suddenly improve when one steps across the border from Nevada to California? Doubtful. And what are the trade-offs if they did have dirtier air? And why is higher expenditure on health care bad for the economy but spending money on "clean" technology is good for the economy? They present no analysis indicating that CO2 regs will be worth whatever significant gains in air quality there may be. California residents will have less money to spend on healthcare under the regulations--we know that.

But the real dumb statement here is the one about other states having to buy "cleantech" from California. Maybe they will, but so will Californians! Does the LA Times think California companies will be giving this away for free? And anyway, if "cleantech" is the boom industry that CARB and the LA Times think it is what is to stop Nevada from building it and selling it to California?

Everytime I read LA Times & NY Times editorials they remind me of the editorials I used to read in my high school newspaper. The childish solutions to complex or non-existent problems. The juvenile idea that legislation is the answer to all our difficulties & the complete ignorance on economic details.