Donald J. Boudreaux is an idiot. I don’t care if he’s the current chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University, he’s a disaster as an orator. Apparently his knowledge of economics, love of capitalism and lofty post gives him unprecedented insight into medicine, the environment and social issues.
His advice “The case for neglecting global warming” is that because we’re living longer and have full bellies that we should ignore the OTHER trends we see about us.
We should ignore as stray data the growing obesity of our children. We should not pay attention to the changes in our climate. We should close our eyes and not observe the oceans as they devolve to a prehistoric state.
Capitalism will make us healthier and weathier he says. Being an economist it’s natural that he should see the cure for all ills being in the very field of study he’s devoted his life to. To be honest, I’ve never seen such a god complex in someone outside of medicine.
His argument, of course, is flame bait. Capitalism is not opposed to health and environment issues. This is not an either-or argument. Boudreaux gives credit to capitalism for healing the developed world of their ills missing the point that a lot of the benefits he enjoys are a result of “science”, “philanthropy”, “medicine”, “engineering”, “innovation”, “inspiration”.
We’re reaping the benefits of the short term gain of the last 100 years of science. His article waffles about how humankind has undergone “a form of evolution that is unique”. Bollocks. We’re seeing the environmental gains of good food, healthcare and increased leisure time (which of course we use to exercise, right?).
Boudreaux sees fit to ignore the long term losses. The concern about global warming is not about saving the planet. The planet is doing fine. It’s about ensuring that the humans on the planet stick around to enjoy their increased lifespan. While we enjoy the warmest summer in recorded history here in Ireland, I can only wonder what the winter brings us as we have had progressively colder winters with worse blizzards and storms. As we come into our Autumnal season, I think we’ll find out.
He also ignores some of the other trends out there. For some reason we’re seeing a huge upswing in allergies, we are seeing increased rates of congenital defects, more and more young people succumbing to these illnesses. The fact that the grey-hairs in Boudreaux’s college staff room seem to be living longer is to their credit but are hardly a representative sample.
Donald – being concerned about the environment does not mean you are anti-capitalism. Decrying those who do have concern for the long term future of the human race just makes you into an idiot. From a geneticist point of view, I hope your drivel does not live on in the genes you pass to your children.