Gary Locke, Obama’s intrepid secretary of the Department of Commerce has been in China for the past few days.  If you read the following mission statement from the Department of Commerce, you will probably agree with me that this agency is doing a great job lately.  

The Department of Commerce promotes job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and

improved living standards for all Americans, by working in partnership with business, universities,

communities, and workers to:

1.  Build for the future and promote U.S. competitiveness in the global

marketplace, by strengthening and safeguarding the nation’s economic

infrastructure;

2. Keep America competitive with cutting-edge science and technology and an

unrivaled information base; and,

3. Provide effective management and stewardship of our nation’s resources

and assets to ensure sustainable economic opportunities.

Since the Commerce Department has been doing an excellent job at creating jobs, promoting economic growth building American competitiveness, we should be delighted that Gary Locke has been in China trying to figure out a way to encourage China curb its carbon emissions.  Guess who he thinks should pay for China’s emissions?

Chinese industry?  Nope.

Chinese taxpayers? Nope.

American Consumers?  Ding, Ding, Ding!  You guessed it.  While this was an inherently stupid statement to make from someone who appears to be inherently stupid, then it is nice to see that Republican members of the Energy and Commerce Committee sent a 14 question letter to Locke to explain his position.  It will be interesting to see Locke’s response, because any answer to these questions will only make Locke look more stupid than he already does.  Of course, he is backing off the statement now.

Surprisingly, the Chinese were in favor of this idea.  I wonder what they think would happen to the demand for all the cheap crap they produce if the prices were artificially inflated to cover the cost of carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, the chorus of third-world countries stating that they are not interested at all in destroying their economies with global warming quackery is growing louder and louder.