Bad Planning Habits

By Floy Lilley, J.D.
December 7, 2004

In any language some points come across clearly. Argentina's taxi drivers are fluent in finger signals to other drivers. No bad driving habit goes unnoticed or uncommented upon. But drivers have opinions about more than bad driving habits. When a taxi driver queries "Kerry?" and turns his thumb down with a scowl, then smiles "Bush?" with thumb up followed by a strong "macho," he speaks clearly. He approves of the Americano choice.

Within the halls of the current gathering of delegates to the United Nations Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Climate Change, approval of anything Americano is harder to find.

Do not take any particular notice of the fact that the gathering of global central planners is located on one side of the Av. Sarmiento while the Zoo is located on the other side. It would also be shallow humor to note that the name of the person in charge of this current confab is "Joke" Waller-Hunter.

Daily, an avalanche of newsletters and reports spills onto and off of tables. Each includes predictable whines on the order of "Yes. George W. got re-elected. Nothing can be done about that at this point. President Bush distinguished himself as the most destructive force in international climate efforts," claims one Non-Governmental Organization [NGO] newsletter. Writers and speakers swear that climate change is at"least as great a threat as terrorism."

The Bush Administration will be the great scapegoat for all things evil on Earth. All movements do require a Devil, after all. Lists are circulated about "The Bad & The Ugly: Top Ten Things to Remember When the Bush Administration Says They take Global Warming Seriously." On that list are primarily the facts that Bush opposes energy rationing, opposes global central planners, opposes bureaucratic caps on emissions, opposes government subsidies of private industries, opposes uncertainties in the science, and opposes mandatory bureaucratic global reports.

Frankly, if such opposition were true, it could give the world its greatest hope, because then the world's largest power would have, like the taxi driver of Buenos Aires, given the clearest signal. The signal would be that of faith in human action and the natural market economy rather than capitulation to the wannabe global gangsters. Such opposition to central planning is bolstered by the historical knowledge of the institutions necessary to create health and wealth. Such opposition to collectivism knows that the factors of production - land, labor and capital - must be in private hands for creation to occur. Such opposition to the bad central planners is cause for Americanos to be proud on this 7th of December - this Pearl Harbor Day.