Several former Nixon, Reagan and Bush cabinet members agreed climate change is going to cause severe damage to the American economy. No really, they did and not only that, they said we need to take action immediately, including (*gasp*) a carbon tax!
“The big ice sheets are melting; something’s happening,” George P. Shultz, who was Treasury secretary under President Richard M. Nixon and secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, said in an interview. He noted that he had grown concerned enough about global warming to put solar panels on his own California roof and to buy an electric car. “I say we should take out an insurance policy.”
The former Treasury secretaries — including Henry M. Paulson Jr., a Republican who served under President George W. Bush, and Robert E. Rubin, a Democrat in the Clinton administration — promised to help sound the alarm. All endorse putting a price on greenhouse gases, most likely by taxing emissions.
“I actually do believe that we’re at a tipping point with the planet,” Mr. Paulson said in an interview at his home in Chicago. “A lot of things are going to happen that none of us are going to like to see.”
Of course, not one of these former Republican officials has any influence on the policies of their own party, and I imagine they will be called traitors and RINOs for speaking out on this matter, but I salute them nonetheless. All I can say is where were these guys back in 2002 or 2006 or 2008 or … well you get the picture. Can’t give Robert Rubin a pass on this either. He’s been a senior member of the Wall Street Enablers of Big Oil Club for as long as I can remember. But hey, you take what you can get. The fact this issue ever became politicized is a direct result of the influence of the fossil fuel industries on both parties, and the ability of our corporate media to bend over backwards not to alienate some of their biggest ad buyers. A shame so many lies have been allowed to be seen as truth for so many because of – and let’s be honest here – the greed of a few profiteers.