The redistributionist plans intended for the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change have run into a substantial sticking point: Giving away billions of dollars is not popular when you are broke — unless you are the recipient, of course.

As highlighted in a previous article, the European haggling over who is going to pay, and how much they will be paying, has become a bone of contention in the remaining weeks before the Copenhagen conference. A fundamental element of the agreement which is intended to take the place of the Kyoto Protocol is that it will provide massive — almost incomprehensible — transfers of cash from the First World to the Third World. These transfers are supposed to offset the cost for poorer nations to “go green” as the UN oversees the transformation of the global economy.

The UN’s estimate of the ‘need’ is $100 billion per year. As the Guardian.co.uk is now reporting, the European Union is now squabbling over which EU countries will be responsible for covering Europe’s portion of the tab:

Poland and other more recent and poorer EU members threatened to block agreement on a financial package for funding global warming action in the developing world, a central plank of the international pact needed if the Copenhagen talks are to succeed. At the end of yesterday's [10/29] talks, no deal had been agreed on funding for tackling climate change in developing countries. Talks are to continue today.

Chairing last night's Brussels summit, Fredrik Reinfeldt, the prime minister of Sweden, said Europe's claim to lead the world on global warming was at stake. But the Poles, Hungarians, and Lithuanians fiercely criticised the outline deal tabled by the Swedes.

The Swedes and the European commission, as well as Britain, called for the EU to agree a package of up to €15bn (£13.4bn) of public money for transfers to developing countries by 2020. They want the bill to be split on the basis of the greenhouse gas emissions and economic prowess of each of the 27 member states.

The Poles and other east Europeans maintain that they cannot afford to pay a fair share of the bill, particularly since some of the east European countries have been hit particularly hard by the financial crisis.

The €15bn is supposed to be the European share of the developed world's bill of up to €50bn of public-sector spending by 2020. The EU also hoped to agree on transitional funding of up to €7bn a year, starting from next year, for the developing world.

For a wealth transfer that is supposed to shovel $1 trillion dollars, €7 billion (approximately $10.33 billion) a year may sound — in the era of “Hope and Change” deficit spending — like a small amount of money; simply divided into 27 national “shares” the total would be approximately $383 million per nation, per year. (Which places Spain’s pledge to contribute “100 million euros” to the effort into perspective — apparently Spain hopes it can get off cheap by getting in early.)

The squabbling is a demonstration of the shallow character environmentalist “feel good” politics. It’s not that the governments have a problem soaking their people through cripplingly high rates of taxation; it is that when it comes to politicians parting with that cash, they become reticent.

When crunching the numbers, it should also be observed that the Europeans are squabbling over a “share” which is only 30 percent of the total “public-sector” burden. Want to guess what portion the United States will be asked to cover?

According to Guardian.co.uk:

While Sweden, Denmark, Britain, and the European commission said that the EU had to agree a package now in order to send a strong signal to Copenhagen, put pressure on the US and other countries to agree similar funding, and retain the pioneering role it claims on climate change, Germany was reluctant to commit to figures publicly, arguing that the Europeans should not reveal their hand until the "card game" got under way properly in Copenhagen.

"You cannot simply wait right until the very end of Copenhagen to do this," said the British official. "We need to explain the terms in which we want countries to put their commitments on the table, and now is the time to do it."

Thus the pressure is on. With many European nations understandably afraid of getting stuck with the ‘bill’ for a reckless round of international regulation, the pressure is on Uncle Sam, once again, to pay up so that everyone else can feel better about themselves. As the Associated Press reports:

With time running out and wide gaps between nations remaining, attention focused Monday on if United States can commit to a specific target to reduce emissions over the next decade and how much the U.S. will contribute to a global fund to help developing countries. ...

U.S. commitments have been tied up in legislation slowly making its way through Congress, which may not be completed before the Dec. 7-18 conference in Copenhagen.

"We expect the United States to be able to deliver on one of the major challenges of our century," said Danish Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard, who will chair the Copenhagen meeting.

Hedegaard noted that President Barack Obama will be receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in the neighboring country of Norway on Dec. 10 — just as the decisive climate conference is under way.

"It's very hard to imaging how the American president can receive the Nobel prize for his contributions to hope in the world ... and at the same time has sent an empty-handed delegation to Copenhagen," said the Danish minister.

One might almost admire such cynical manipulation, if it were not for the fact that it is coming at our expense. Well, at least now we have a better grasp on why a President with a record free from any accomplishments was given the Nobel. What a fitting way to celebrate receiving a peace prize which one has done nothing to merit than by giving away money which you did nothing to earn?

The best leadership America could offer at Copenhagen would be to refuse to have anything to do with such a nonsensical swindle — but that’s not likely. Without substantial pressure on the elected representatives who will otherwise be expected to simply rubber stamp whatever the teleprompter has told the Leader to agree to during a photo op in Copenhagen, America is going to get stuck with the ‘bill’ again. Before the President heads off to collect his prize, and sign a blank check, Americans must tell their representatives, “No Compromise in Copenhagen — No Surrender of Sovereignty.”

See "Climate Change Conference Update" by James Heiser

Rt. Rev. James Heiser has served as Pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Malone, Texas, while maintaining his responsibilities as publisher of Repristination Press, which he established in 1993 to publish academic and popular theological books to serve the Lutheran Church.  Heiser has also served since 2005 as the Dean of Missions for The Augustana Ministerium and in 2006 was called to serve as Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA). An advocate of manned space exploration, Heiser serves on the Steering Committee of the Mars Society. His publications include two books; The Office of the Ministry in N. Hunnius' Epitome Credendorum (1996) and A Shining City on a Higher Hill: Christianity and the Next New World (2006), as well as dozens of journal articles and book reviews.

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RP said:

	... Could it be that people around the world are awakening to the scam? Here is hoping that many others will awake, and that those who have awoken STAY AWAKE!
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November 03, 2009
Votes: +5

DDW said:

	Aren't the people Of these United Stated getting a little tired of supporting all the leaches, free-loaders and hangers-on of the world? Not only should we completely abandon this outrageous shake-down, we should also completely cut off all aid to all foreign nations. Let them sink or swim on their own. And if they sink, well now isn't that just survival of the fittest?
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November 03, 2009
Votes: +4

elizabeth burns said:

Oh, this is ridiculous I live on a 38,000 acre ranch with ExxonMobil in South Texas. Exxon has leased this ranch as well as almost 2,000,000 nearly contiguous acres in my area since the 1930's. It's a huge pigsty as you can imagine. About 16 months ago, I started a blog and website where you can see what it's like day in and day out to live admidst gas bubbling out of roads and fields, and old ExxonMobil facilities. ExxonMobil still operates all their old wasteful and polluting facilities and gas plants across Texas. It doesn't matter that the Clean Air Act banned such facilities --- because the biggest and richest oil company gets everything grandfathered. The USA should worry about getting the companies within our borders complying and not worry about the rest of the world. We certainly don't have our affairs in order. The rest of the world should realize that ExxonMobil exemplifies how it's done in the USA and it's not a model to follow nor a country to be relied upon to solve other countries problems.

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November 03, 2009 | url
Votes: -2

elizabeth burns said:

	oh, my site By the way, my website is www.RanchoLosMalulos.com This is what it looks like in 2009 in Texas. Imagine what's going in the real 3rd world nations.
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November 03, 2009 | url
Votes: -2

SCHNORCHEL said:

Angela Merkel Speech to Congress The fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the US Congress applying pressure on the U.S. to bow down to the Climate Change treaty ought to be a "Heads Up" for all of us. It gives me the impression that the US is already part of the European Union in action, although not by formal treaty. No complaints issued from the Media regarding this contemptible display of INTERNATIONALISM and ONE-WORLD advocacy by our so-called leaders. Has the US Congress deliberately forgotten our Declaration of Independence and Washington's admonishment against foreign entanglements?

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November 04, 2009
Votes: +4