Convenient: George Soros To Invest $10 Million/Year In Rent Seeking For His “Green” Investments
Gee, it wouldn’t be the sort of green technology that would suddenly be in great demand if something like cap and trade should pass, would it?
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Billionaire George Soros said on Saturday that he would invest $1 billion in clean energy technology as part of an effort to combat climate change.
The Hungarian-born U.S. investor also announced he would form and fund a new climate policy initiative with $10 million a year for 10 years.
“Global warming is a political problem,” Soros told a meeting of editors in the Danish capital where governments are scheduled to meet in December to try to hammer out a new global climate agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
“The science is clear, what is less clear is whether world leaders will demonstrate the political will necessary to solve the problem,” he said, according to a brief email statement.
What I don’t understand is why someone like Soros, making an announcement like this, gets treated like some sort of an international philanthropist. All he’s doing is investing a bunch of money into this “green” technology while simultaneously pledging $10 million/year for the next decade to lobby the government to create a demand for what he’s investing in.
This isn’t philanthropy. This is rent-seeking. If this were some oil man investing in new pumping and drilling technologies and then pledging $10 million/year to lobby for opening up new lands for oil exploration he wouldn’t be championed as some sort of philanthropist. He’d be reviled.
Of course, the oil man would simply be seeking to get the government off his back so that he can better go about his business of providing the world with a product that’s in demand. In Soros’ case, he’s lobbying the government to force the market toward his investments.
Which is a perspective that lays the entire “green movement” bare. It’s not about saving the world. It’s about giving a select few people power over how you live your life, and the ability to profit from your new mandated lifestyle.
