There is a wonderful story about a black preacher in the South, who punctuated his sermon one Sunday with the proud and loud declaration that "Salvation is free -- free as the water we drink!" Later in the service, the preacher made note of the rather paltry collection, and was challenged by a fellow in the third row of the pews. "Didn't you say salvation was free, Reverend, free as the water we drink"?
The pastor looked down at him and declared, "Oh, yes, brother, salvation is INDEEEEEEEED as free as the water we drink. But when we pipe it to you, you got to pay for the piping!"
I was reminded of that story a couple years back when Barack Obama, fortunately no longer president, hustled off to Paris to attend a summit of world leaders on global warming -- not how to have more of it, as the Russians and Canadians would probably like, but less of it. He proposed that the USA, meaning the American wage-earning taxpayer, cough up $2 billion to send to African rulers to help with their efforts to reduce global warming. No, seriously.
So here's the thing. We now, as a government, owe some $20 trillion to a host of people whom we have borrowed from, because the government spends more than it takes in. That "host of people" is mostly foreign governments, with China, our sworn enemy who is constantly hacking our personal and government systems, way up at the top. I recall the one memorable line of Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential debate, that he would evaluate every spending line in the Federal budget as to whether it was worth "borrowing money from China to pay for it."
So here's my point: we do not have one red cent of the $2 billion of your money that, before we got rid of him, Barack Obama wanted to send to a set of otherwise not-terribly-trustworthy African strongmen, trusting that they will use it to help forestall global warming. I guarantee you that if Congress had been stupid enough to allow that to happen, there would be zero oversight of where that money went. Guarantee it.
And yet, Obama thought it was a good idea. Follow the money here ... we would borrow $2 billion from China to send to African dictators, and never follow up to see how it is actually used. China is a gold-medal producer of the pollutants that are supposed to cause global warming. But no, we'll borrow from them, pay interest to China on the loan, and give the money away to people running countries that are nowhere near the level of global warming causers that the Chinese are.
Got it?
So here is the grand Yours Truly solution, much better for all concerned (save the African dictators) and for the planet. Let former president Barack Obama use his eloquence to convince the Chinese to use the $2 billion they would have lent to the USA to give away to African dictators, to use instead on taking care of their own infrastructure and converting $2 billion worth of energy production to green, green sources. Voila!
Don't you love it? The planet benefits because the least green country out there gets greener. The USA taxpayer is not footing the bill for any foreign effort that doesn't help us. The Chinese economy gets a Keynesian infusion of $2 billion to help its own businesses. Corrupt African dictators are deprived of money they don't deserve and don't plan to use productively. And Obama can take credit for MY idea.
And we don't have to "pay for the piping."
Perfect and good for all ... yeah, except for those dictators.
Copyright 2017, 2015 by Robert Sutton