Isramart: Carbon class warfare

Isramart news:
The United States was bashed a lot over the last two weeks at the Copenhagen Climate Summit. But those who believe in man-made global warming should have some praise for the Land of the Free because Americans are comparatively clean.

Admittedly, we emit large amounts of carbon dioxide per person, but the United States is at the very top in terms of how much it is able to create for the carbon dioxide it produces. And U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions per output have been improving over time. Few countries, especially the developing nations bashing us the most, come even close.

The United States currently produces 30 percent of the world's total goods and services but emits 20 percent of man-made carbon dioxide. The rest of the wealthy, developed nations aren't far behind. Under the Kyoto treaty, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Russia are known as the Annex 1 countries. Combined, they produce 45 percent of the world's goods and services while emitting 31 percent of the world's man-made carbon dioxide. The United States produces 1.5 percent of the world's gross domestic product for each 1 percent of the world's man-made carbon dioxide emissions. That ratio is 1.45 to 1 for the other developed countries.

The rest of the world doesn't come close to this efficiency. By far the worst offenders are the former and current communist states. China generates just 6 percent of the world's gross domestic product but - at 21 percent - produces more man-made carbon dioxide than America. That's a ratio of .28 to 1. The former Soviet republics are even worse, producing just 2 percent of the world's GDP and 9 percent of its man-made carbon dioxide for a miserable .22 to 1 ratio. Other places such as India, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Africa, Brazil and the rest of South America all produce a greater share of the world's man-made carbon dioxide than they do of the world's GDP.

The ultimate irony of Copenhagen is that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez was greeted with deafening applause when he condemned capitalism. "Our revolution seeks to help all people... socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that's the way to save the planet; capitalism is the road to hell ... let's fight against capitalism and make it obey us," he thundered. Math, obviously, is not Mr. Chavez's strong suit.

We don't think made-made global warming is a problem. However, those who do should open their eyes and focus on the real enemies of humanity: socialism, atheism, poverty and dictatorships - not carbon dioxide.