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Bill Clinton courageously speaks economic truth
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It's the economy, stupid! Former President Bill Clinton might have stunned the world from Colorado January 30 when he said, "We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions 'cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren." This would have been remarkable, unprecedented candor from a politician, especially today in the U.S. where politicians race to promote a stimulus package to jump-start our lagging economy, but for the fact he wasn't really suggesting we do this.

I've uploaded a clip of Clinton's statement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPDnaQMAO6E followed by Fox News commentators totally baffled by this notion. With all the talk these days about dire economic news, you may be as dumbfounded as they were. I wouldn't blame you.

But the fact is, our current economic retraction is a perfect opportunity to ratchet down our carbon emissions and ecological footprint. Any stimulus should go exclusively toward replacing lost carbon-intensive jobs with clean energy jobs. And we should be applauding (and adjusting to) lower rates of consumption.

The disciples of growth everlasting at Fox News are completely stumped. They can't begin to get their heads around the notion that anyone in his right mind would want an economic slowdown! I encourage you to inform yourself on this concept by visiting the website for my documentary on the subject of growth worship at www.growthbusters.com.

You can also see Clinton's remarks in full at http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15182805/detail.html(this subject is near the end of part one of his speech)

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clarification in order
By Dave Gardner Feb 1st 2008 at 9:34 am EST
After rushing this out I investigated further and found that Fox News had left out some back-pedaling by Bill Clinton. It's still great that he recognized and spoke what needs to be done. But then he went on to say:

“But if we did that, you know as well as I do, China and India and Indonesia and Vietnam and Mexico and Brazil and the Ukraine, and all the other countries will never agree to stay poor to save the planet for our grandchildren. The only way we can do this is if we get back in the world’s fight against global warming and prove it is good economics that we will create more jobs to build a sustainable economy that saves the planet for our children and grandchildren. It is the only way it will work."

This would be the Nordhaus/Shellenberger approach, which in all honesty I believe gives people the false hope that we can "grow" our way out of serious climate change. We cannot.
Re: clarification in order
By Doc Feb 1st 2008 at 10:25 am EST
Well put, David.
  
Better version on YouTube now
By Dave Gardner Feb 1st 2008 at 1:01 pm EST
I've revised the video clip to add some clarity about Clinton's complete statement, so please visit this url instead of the original in my blog post: Link
Re: Better version on YouTube now
By Dave Gardner Feb 3rd 2008 at 12:44 am EST
You can currently see all of Bill Clinton's comments on this subject at the end of Clinton Speech Pt. 1 at Link
  
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