Climate Change Legislation: An Inconvenient Tax

A confession: Not only am I a financial/stock market aficionado, but because of my line of work I happen to be rather knowledgeable about weather and climate. So I feel compelled to say something about the climate-change bill just passed by the House. In a nutshell:

1. That a recent historical global warming trend exists is a fact.
2. That humans have contributed to global warming, that's likely.
3. That humans are the #1 cause of global warming, that's debatable.
4. That humans can develop cost-effective technology to reverse global warming, that's unlikely.
5. That humans can reverse global warming without crippling our global economy in the process, that's impossible.

So the reality of this bill is this: It will have no substantial impact on our global climate unless all nations agree to play by the same rules. And even if all nations agree, there is no guarantee nor even tangible proof that this legislation will change the world's climate by a single tenth of a degree.

So if you want to support the bill for other reasons -- energy independence, green living, etc. -- go ahead. Just don't delude yourself into thinking that it'll have any measurable impact on our global climate.