....
with transcript
hello everyone
i'm going to read
to you today a piece i wrote for the
telegraph
in the uk
i'm reading it because
sometimes
rather than speaking spontaneously it's
necessary for me to
craft my words with as much care as i
can manage
especially when dealing with things that
are
pushing the limits of my
conceptual ability let's say writing is
the deepest form of thinking and
sometimes i need to rely on it and so
that's why i'm reading it now the next
issue is how i'm going to read it so
i've written a number of these
news pieces let's say commentaries
recently and people have objected some
people have objected to my tone
i'm often dealing with things that i
would say frighten me to take on to some
degree they're big issues and they're
contentious and so a handy source of
impetus and power
i mean motive power in such situations
is to harness a certain degree of
outrage and anger that also fuels
my spirit i suppose in some sense when
i'm writing these articles it would be
easier in many ways just to sit on the
couch and and read a stephen king novel
but
i have to get up the energy
and maybe i do that by relying to an
untenable degree on wrath which is a
cardinal sin in some regards now it's
not like there's not things that are
worth being
irritable about
but i thought what i would do today as
an experiment
is to attempt to read this in the most
calm and understanding manner that i can
despite its
rather
pointed
message
and so i'm trying to get the tone right
you know
and i'm paying attention to the feedback
i'm getting from
friend and foe alike let's say and
modifying my approach as a consequence
and so this is an attempt to
modify it yet again in the hopes of
attaining something better
and here we go
deloitte is the largest professional
service network
in the world
headquartered in london
it is also one of the big four global
accounting companies offering audit
consulting risk advisory tax and legal
services
to corporate
clients with a third of a million
professionals operating on those fronts
worldwide
and as the third largest privately owned
company in the us
deloitte is a beomoth
with numerous and far-reaching tentacles
in short
it's an entity we should all know about
not least because such enterprises no
longer limit themselves to their proper
bailiwick
profit centered business strategizing
say
but
consciously or not
have assumed the role as counselors to
globalists
whose policies have sparked considerable
unrest
around the world
if you're seeking the cause of the dutch
agriculture and fisheries protests the
canadian trucker convoy
or before that the rise of the so-called
yellow jackets in france the farmer
rebellion in india a few years ago
the recent catastrophic collapse of sri
lanka or
the energy crisis in europe and
australia
you can instruct yourself
by the recent pronouncements from
deloitte while not directly responsible
they offer an insight into the elite
group think
that has triggered these events into the
cabell of centralizing globalist
utopians operating in the media
corporate and government fronts
wielding
a nightmarish vision
of environmental apocalypse
outlandish claims
in may of this year
deloitte released a clarion call to
precipitous action trumpeting the
climate emergency that currently
confronts us
called the turning point a global
summary
it is a stellar example
of the kind of thinking characteristic
of the european union's bureaucratic
overreach that generated brexit a very
good decision on the part of the brits
in my view
and one that is now threatening the very
survival
of that self-same eu
the report
opens
with two claims
first that the storms wildfires droughts
downpours and floods around the globe in
the last 18 months are unique and
unprecedented
a dubious claim
and implicitly that the science is now
at a point where we can say without
doubt that experts can and must
model the entire ecology and economy of
the planet
and that we must modify everyone's
behavior moving forward by hooker by
crook
to avoid what would otherwise be the
most expensive environmental and social
catastrophe in history
the deloitte
models
posit that climate impacts could affect
global economic output
and offer the following figures that
uncheck climate change will cost us
178 trillion over the next 50 years
that's twenty five thousand dollars per
person
to put it in human terms
who dares deny such facts
stated
so mathematically
so precisely
so scientifically
let's update mark twain's famous dictum
there are lies
damned lies
statistics
and computer models
computer model does not mean
data
and even data does not mean fact or real
world computer model means at best
hypotheses
posing
as mathematical fact no real scientist
ever says follow the science
yet this is exactly what bodies such as
the eu
consistently pronounce pushing
for collectivist solutions
that often and inevitably do more harm
than good
solutions in sovereignty what might we
rely on instead to guide us forward in
these times of accelerating trouble and
possibility
valid authority
rests in the people
truly valid structures of authority are
local
not centralized for reasons of
efficiency
and emergency
this must not become the generation of
yet another top-down tower of babel that
will not solve our problems
just as similar attempts have failed to
solve our problems in the past
ask yourself
are these deloitte models
which are supposed to guide all the
important decisions we make about the
economic security and opportunity of
families and the structures of our civil
societies
accurate enough
even to give those who employ them any
edge whatsoever say in predicting the
performance of a stock portfolio
one based on green energy say over the
upcoming years
the answer
is
no
how do we know
because if such accurate models existed
and were implemented by a company with
deloitte's resources in reach
deloitte would soon have
all the money
that is never going to happen the global
economy let alone the environment is
simply too complex to model
it is for this reason fundamentally that
we have and require a free market system
the free market
is the best model of the environment
we can generate
let me repeat that with a codicil not
only is the free market the best model
of the environment we can generate
it is
and will remain
the best model that can in principle
ever be generated
with its widely distributed computations
constituting the totality of the choices
of seven billion people
it simply cannot be improved upon
certainly not by presumptuous power mad
globalist utopians who think that hiring
someone mysteriously manipulating a few
carefully chosen numbers and then
reading the summarized output means
genuine contact with the reality of the
future
and the generation of knowledge
unassailable
on both the ethical and the practical
front
the impact
of delusional thinking
why is this a problem
why should you care
well
the savior said deloitte
admit
that there will be a short-term cost to
implementing their cure
which is by the way net zero emissions
by 2050 an utterly preposterous and
inexcusable goal
both
practically and conceptually
this by the way is a goal identical to
that adopted last week by the utterly
delusional leaders of australia
who additionally committed that resource
dependent and productive country
to a 40
plus
decrease by 2005 standards in greenhouse
gas emission
within the impossible time frame
of eight years
this will devastate australia
as the framers of such plans with their
it justifies everything emergency know
and even somewhat admit to knowing
here is the confession couched in
bureaucratic doublespeak from the
deloitte consultants
during the initial stages
the combined cost of the upfront
investments in decarbonization
coupled with the already locked in
damages of climate change would
temporarily lower economic activity
compared to the current emissions
intensive path
the omniscient planners then attempt to
justify this with the standard empty
threats and promises
the suffering is certain the benefits
ethereal
those most exposed to the economic
damages of unchecked climate change
would also have the most to gain from
embracing a low emissions future
really
tell that to the african and indian
populations in the developing world
lifted from poverty by coal
and natural gas
and think
really think
about this statement
existing industries would be
reconstitute
as a series of complex interconnected
emissions-free energy systems
energy mobility industry manufacturing
food and land use and negative emissions
that sounds difficult
don't you think
to rebuild everything at once
and better
without breaking
everything
fixing everything in a few decades
in a blindly panicked rush
while demonizing anyone who dares object
and
what will it take to do so
here's the most alarming part
nothing more than quote
a coordinated transition
that will require
governments along with the financial
services and technology sectors to
catalyze facilitate and accelerate
progress foster information flows across
systems and align
individual incentives
with
collective goals
a clearer statement of totalitarian
inclination
could hardly
be penned
certain outcomes versus predicted
outcomes
the one thing the deloitte models
guarantee
is that if we do what they recommend
we will definitely be poorer
than we would have been otherwise
for an indefinite but hypothetically
transitory period
yet
any reduction in economic output however
temporary and necessary
will be purchased at the cost of the
lives
of those who are barely making it now
period
have you all noticed that food has
become much more expensive that shelter
has become much more expensive that
energy
is more expensive
that many consumer goods are simply
unavailable
can you not see
that this is going to get worse
if the deloitte style moralists have
their way
how much short-term pain
are you going to be required
to sustain
decades worth
all your life and the life of your
children
it's very likely
for your own benefit
remember that
and all this painful privation
is not only not going to save the planet
it's going to make it far worse
i worked for a u.n subcommittee that
helped prepare the 2012 report to the
secretary general on sustainable
development whether or not it was a good
idea to contribute to such a thing is a
separate issue
i do believe at least that the report
would have been much more harmful than
it was without the input of the canadian
contingent
we scrubbed away several layers of
globalist utopianism and cold war era
conceptualization and cynicism
that was something
i garnered a key and crucial insight
from the several years work devoted to
my contribution
i learned
that the fastest and most certain
pathway forward to the future we all
want and need
peaceful prosperous beautiful
is through
the economic elevation
of the absolutely poor
richer people care
about
the environment
which is after all all that is outside
the primary and fundamental concern of
those desperate
for their next meal
make
the poor
rich
and the planet will improve or at least
get out of their way
while they try to make themselves rich
make the poor poorer
and this is the concrete plan remember
and things will get worse
perhaps worse beyond imagining
observe the chaos in sri lanka
if you need proof
there are clearly more important
priorities than costly and ineffective
emergency climate change reductions
bjorn lombard's work among others such
as marion toopey and matt ridley
has demonstrated that other pressing
problems could and should take political
and economic priority from the
perspective of good done per dollar
spent
money could and should be spent for
example to ensure the current health and
therefore future productivity and
environmental stewardship of currently
poor children in developing countries
for example
how about attending to remediation of
the actual world of pain and deprivation
of such children
rather than saving the hypothetical
world and the hypothetical world of
future children
in abstraction
stirrings of revolt
citizens are waking up to this
dutch farmers and fishermen
are rising up canadian truckers are
pushing back
and such protests are spreading and
increasing in intensity as they
should
why
because
deloitte consultants
and like-minded centralists
are pushing things too far
it will not produce the results they are
hypothetically intending
this agenda justified by emergency
will instead make everyone poorer
particularly those who are already poor
this use of emergency force will instead
make the lives of the working men upon
whom we all depend for our daily bread
and shelter more difficult
and less rewarding finally
this use of emergency force
will also make
the environment worse
not better
why
if you wreak your temporary economic
havoc
to eventually remediate the world those
whom you sacrifice so casually in the
attempt
will descend into chaos
in that chaos they will then
by necessity
turn their attention to matters of
immediate survival
and in a manner that will stress and
harm the complex ecosystems and
economies
that can only be maintained
with the long-term view
that prosperity and nothing else
makes possible
critics of my view will say we have to
accept limits to growth
fine
accept them
personally
abandoned your position of planet
devouring wealthy privilege
join an ascetic order
graze with the cattle
or if that's too much and it probably is
then purchase an electric car if you
want one but no diesel-powered emergency
backup vehicle or electric power
generator for you
buy some stock and tesla that's probably
the best bet on that front
but you don't approve of the likes of
elon musk do you
stop flying
stop driving for that matter get on your
bike instead in your three-piece
business suit in the winter
if you dare
i'll splash you with icy and salty slush
as i drive by in my
evil but warm ford bronco suv
and help you derive the consequent
delicate pleasure of your own
narcissistic martyrdom
save the planet with your own choices
but quit demanding that the rest of us
blindly follow your dictats
quit demonizing and castigating us
merely because we don't just happily
cede to you all the extant power
we're not evil
just because we don't believe
that you are omniscient
we're not evil
just because we don't want you to assume
omnipotence and omnipresence too
there is simply no
pathway forward
to the green and equitable utopia
that necessitates the further
impoverishment
of the already poor
the compulsion of the working class
or the sacrifice of economic security
and opportunity on the food energy and
housing front
there is simply no pathway forward to
the global utopia you hypothetically
value that is dependent on force
and even if there was what gives you the
right to enforce your demands
on other sovereign citizens equal in
value
to you
an alternative solution
a better way forward would be to
prioritize the problems that beset all
of us on this still green functional
and increasingly abundant planet
with the requisite focus and attention
demanded of a true political class
elected by the people
capable of and willing to look at
everything
trying to fix where necessary trying to
maintain as much freedom and autonomy as
possible
and stop
simply capitalizing narcissistically on
the mere appearance
of action knowledge
and virtue
we should obtain true cooperative
consent
from those affected
farmers truckers working-class people
who have turned an irritated desperation
to figures such as trump
and work with them rather than
forbidding them with your power or
improving them
so they will be finally worthy of your
time and attention
help replace dirty energy with clean if
you must but do it on your own dime
and make sure that the results are cheap
and plentiful
if you want to help the poor
and the planet
the warning bells are ringing
listen to them
before they turn into sirens
we will not advance without resistance
through the straits of your enforced
privation
we will not allow you to steal and
destroy the energy that makes our lives
bearable and that produces our food and
shelter and housing and the sporadic
delights of modern life
just to address your existential terror
particularly
when it will fail to do so
in any case
we will not allow
our children
to be criticized first
for having the temerity to merely exist
and then deprived of the prosperous and
opportunity-rich future we strive so
hard to prepare for them
we remain unconvinced that your
frightened and self-congratulatory
moralizing and intellectual pretension
ignorance of the limits of statistics
and misuse of arithmetic
we do not believe
finally and most absolutely
that your declared emergency and the
panic you sow because of it
means
that you should now be seated all
necessary authority
so leave us alone
you centralizers of power
you worshipers of gaia
you sacrificers of the wealth and
property of others
you would be planetary saviors
you machiavellian pretenders and virtue
signalers
objecting to power
all the while you gathered around you
madly
leave us alone
to prosper or not
as a result of our own choices as a
result of our own actions
in the exercise of our own requisite and
irreducible responsibility
leave us
alone
or reap the whirlwind
and watch the terrible destruction
of what you purport to save
in consequence
