Climate

It was another night of self inflicted attacks but it was a bit more interesting.

There is still a lot of time left and whether the current front runner survives is pretty uncertain.  He will at least make it to the first few primaries where we will see how he does.

The media likes to portray this as a battle between the moderates and the progressives, but I don't really see it that way.

The fundamental issue is whether the American people are willing to accept that Government is needed to solve problems and that it will cost something.

For many years the argument has been that private industry and American ingenuity was the way to go and Government merely got in the way.  Of course this ran against the fact that self interest prevents private industry from addressing big issues, like climate change or health care.

Of course to some extent if the American public was willing to only patronize companies that had good records in those areas it might be effective.  However, we are generally going to opt for the option that is best for us.

Big problems, especially climate change, requires the Government.  As a capitalistic country the way to accomplish this is by taxing the profits or penalizing companies that cause the problem.

Yes those taxes will probably be passed along, but if imposed on the worst companies, they will also encourage more environmental purchases.

The other alternative is mass relocations because of coastal flooding and more and more horrific weather events.

Its not really an option.