Quote:
Originally Posted by Lebell
Agreed, but when we point that out, we're a "bunch of babies".
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I wouldn't call you that. I would call you unreasonable and self-centered.
The U.S. is entirely industrialized. There is nothing the world gains by giving the U.S. a temporary pass as is being given to China and India. Neither China nor India are nearly as industrialized as the U.S., they have a lot of catch up to do. The process of catch up and the result once they become more industrialized is a stronger global economy. The purpose of their temporary pass is to provide them with incentive and means to do what the U.S. has already done.
The U.S. did it first and it has enjoyed the benefits of it and will continue to enjoy the benefits of having been first. Now it is time for other countries, including the two with the largest populations, to do it.
The difficulty you are having accepting the inherent fairness of that scenario is that you do not think of this on terms of a global issue. And let's be clear - we are talking about the global environment and how policy on the global environment affects the global economy. The U.S. has already done the most poluting and the U.S. has reaped the benefits of their unchecked polution policies. The world has been negatively affected. It is now time that other countries receive benefits. That the U.S. will then need to accept some negatives is simply the pendulum swinging back.
And my feeling is that the U.S. will eventually find itself in a position where it must join the treaty. As the world economy begins leveraging the treaty, the U.S. will find itself left out in the cold.