Apple has just shown what a bunch of tree-hugging, whale petting bleeding hearts they really are by resigning from the US Chamber of Commerce over its lack of support for “cap and trade” legislation, or have they? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saving our environment, but I just don’t see how “cap and trade” will do anything to further that goal. In fact, the only ones I see benefiting from this are the companies managing this fictitious carbon credit market. You see, carbon credits are man made and not a real commodity like gold, silver or oil. The last company to trade in fictitious commodities was Enron and we all know how that turned out. No, like most other well-intentioned environmental legislation, “cap and trade” only serves to make the lawmakers and cash flush companies feel better about themselves with little or no impact on the environment.
Companies with lots of money support cap and trade because it gives them an advantage over less well funded ones. Its estimated “cap and trade” (like Sarbanes-Oxley) could add as much as 5% to smaller company’s expenses while a well-capitalized company like Apple won’t even be able to hear the noise. The smaller companies will have to pass these added expenses on to their customers in the form of higher prices, making them less competitive. Apple can protest all it wants to, but the fact is, they could use their huge reserves of cash to amass mountains of credits and crush smaller competitors. Once that’s done, I’m sure they’ll pass their “cap and trade” expenses along to us.
Apple 1
Environment 0
Consumers -1
