“Three groups spend other people's money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision.” So said economist and politician Dick Armey. Perhaps the addition of climate activists to that list would bring it more up to date. As President Joe Biden gets set to engage in two days of high-powered talks with other world leaders in Glasgow, Scotland for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, many Americans are beginning to feel a twinge of pain in their wallets.
With an agenda to accelerate the Paris Climate Accords, secure net-zero carbon emissions worldwide by 2050, and “mobilize finance,” the goals appear large in scale, audacity, vision, and, most notably, cost. In the run-up to this event, Joe Biden has desperately tried to pass his human infrastructure spending package that contains at least $500 billion in climate-related goodies with the intention of positioning the U.S. as the most significant partner. This climate pageantry is about appearances and intentions; as such, having the deal in hand would have produced good optics for a leader who so recently earned international ire for his Afghanistan withdrawal debacle.
But all is not lost for President Biden. By committing to spending more of your hard-earned dollars – even as gas prices and inflation continue to decimate the average paycheck – he will restore his position on the world stage as a true leader in the globalist movement that puts Americans dead last.
A Dog and Pony Show?
COP26 is being hyped as the place to be for world leaders eager to gain global kudos. It presents a rare opportunity to be seen as both a uniter and an activist that few heads of state are willing to miss – with two notable exceptions. China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin will not be attending.
That China is the world’s largest producer of carbon emissions, and that Russia is one of the key energy exporters in a time of skyrocketing fuel prices, should be a signal to the Fourth Estate that this conference is more about style over substance. Like the 2015 Paris Climate Accords that former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. from in 2017, COP26 seeks commitments to act in a united front. What this means, in reality, is a commitment to spending more taxpayer dollars.
Biden’s Climate Czar John Kerry said of the conference, “Glasgow is the place, and 2021 is the time.” Not to be outdone, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said the event was “A critical milestone in our efforts to avert climate catastrophe.” Clearly, a lot of hopes hinge on the outcome of the two-day extravaganza.
(Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)
Who’s on First?
President Biden has decided that the best strategy is to take the vast majority of his cabinet to Glasgow along with a sizeable number of career officials. In Rome at the weekend for a G20 summit, his 85-car motorcade raised curiosity levels regarding how such a fleet of gas-guzzling vehicles sends a sincere message of climate concern. It also begs a larger question.
According to a new NBC poll, 71% of Americans believe the U.S. is on the wrong track. America has lost whatever faith it had in Joe Biden to steer the ship through an economy-destroying pandemic. And the solution is apparently to take most of his top officials on a junket to Europe.
The president will return to the U.S. wrapped in a cloak of climate glory. The Fourth Estate will congratulate him on his extended commitments and his “presence” on the world stage. And many Americans will look on aghast as they realize it is their money that will be spent to assure Joe Biden remains a key global player. As Margaret Thatcher once noted, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.” What will be left when the pockets of the people are finally emptied?
~ Read more from Mark Angelides.
