The Green Fund
Until yesterday's speech by President Trump pulling out of the Paris climate accord I had forgotten about the "Green Fund." I thought the "Green Fund" was a euphemism for some slush fund; then forgot all about it after reading
this article just before President Obama left office. Imagine: transferring a half-billion dollars just before leaving office, no Congressional oversight, to some South Korea oligarchy, no accountability. George Washington, who always short of funds to pay his troops, must be rolling in his grave. No matter how little Trump gets accomplished with regard to tax reform, the good news is that had he not won, Hillary would be doing what Obama did -- but much more. From the linked article:
Barack Obama
has heeded calls to help secure the future of the historic Paris
agreement by transferring a second $500m instalment to the Green Climate
Fund, just three days before he leaves office.
The fund was a key aspect of the Paris agreement signed in 2015,
which aims to keep global warming “well below” 2C and aspires to keep
warming to 1.5C.
Established in 2010, it is financed by wealthy countries and used to assist
developing countries with adaptation and mitigation. It was widely seen
as a key measure to bring both rich and poor countries to the
negotiating table.
Later, 9:33 p.m. Central Time: Dow 30 futures have been moving up all evening; now up 66 points. Futures, of course, mean squat.
Original Post
A hat trick: all three major indices hit new records: the Dow 30, Nasdaq, and the S & P 500.
US is out of the Paris climate accord.
For background.
5 minutes before the announcement scheduled time of press conference, 2:55 p.m. Central Time:
- Nasdaq: up 34.41
- DOW: up 100 points
- S&P 500: up 13.48
- WTI: $48.20
Talking heads stress that there are only two countries in the world that did not "ratify" the Paris agreement.
One wonders how many countries might follow the lead of the US?
For the media, it appears the big question: will Ivanka be present? [Apparently not.]
Now that the talking points are out (2:00 p.m. Central Time) the only question is how he "threads the needle."
The most concerning: Elon Musk says he will leave White House economic councils if Trump does not support the Paris climate agreement.
VP Pence arrives at 2:30 p.m. (Central Time) -- one-half hour later than scheduled.
POTUS arrives at 2:33 p.m. (Central Time): now we see why there was a delay -- the Manila airport terrorist attack earlier today. The press completely missed that. President Trump runs through a long list of "making America great again."
During the announcement (2:41 p.m. Central Time):
- Nasdaq: up 38.81
- DOW: up 108 points
- S&P 500: up 14.17
- WTI: $48.19
The announcement: "will withdraw from the Paris climate accord" .... huge clapping ... "but begin negotiations to re-enter the Paris accord .... if fair to Americans."
During the announcement (2:55 p.m. Central Time):
- Nasdaq: up 43.22
- DOW: up 116.43 points
- S&P 500: up 16.08
- WTI: $48.07
Formal remarks ended at almost 3:00 p.m. Central Time on the dot.
Market closing (3:00 p.m. Central Time):
- Nasdaq: up 48.31
- DOW: up 133.88 points
- S&P 500: up 18.13
- WTI: $47.96 (which would be expected with US exiting the Paris climate accord, everything else being equal)
The Dow had not had a record close since March 1, 2017, until today. Today, all three major indices -- the Dow 30, Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 all hit new records.
Forget all the emotional baggage tied up with the Paris climate accord, listen to the reasons Trump left the accord. It had very, very little to do with emotion or the environment.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump not in the Rose Garden during the speech. Steve Bannon was there, in the front row.
***********************
Stupid Comes in Threes
Elon Musk was first.
Bob Iger was second. (And it may have nothing to do with the climate issue;
in a rare slowdown in one of the hottest areas of the entertainment business,
attendance declined at 13 of 14 Disney theme parks around the world in 2016 compared with 2015, according to an independent report
released on Thursday. Higher prices, intended in part to ease crowding
at certain parks, were a major contributor.)
Kathy Griffin.
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Additional Comments
Comments From Readers
I wonder how many people realized
$100 trillion for .2 degree centigrade in 83 years ... my beef with financial deal was India (allowed to double coal usage) and China was exempt for 13 more years.
I was completely unaware of the "
Green Fund" -- essentially a transfer of wealth from the US to 3rd world countries, to whom we already give a huge amount of foreign aid.
France, Italy, and Germany says deal can't be renegotiated. -- report on
CNBC. If the #1 emitter of CO2 walks away but offers to renegotiate, and yet FIG says it can't be renegotiated ... the "accord" that would have saved the world .... this tells me all I need to know about how important this "accord" really was. If this "accord" was that important, and if US walked away, it should have been important enough to renegotiate --- to make it better. And fair to everyone.
