Gore warns Wall Street of ’subprime carbon’ industry.
Gore warns Wall Street of ’subprime carbon’ industry.
In remarks before a “high-profile business crowd,” Al Gore compared the financial risks facing investors in carbon-based industries with the meltdown in the house market for subprime mortgages given to people with blemished credit records or low incomes. Gore said:
You need to really scrub your investment portfolios, because I guarantee you — as my longtime good redneck friends in Tennessee say, I guarandamntee you — that if you really take a fine-tooth comb and go through your portfolios, many of you are going to find them chock-full of subprime carbon assets. […]
The assumption that you can safely invest in assets that come from business models that assume carbon is free is an assumption that is about to go splat. … You have lots of assets, many of you do, in your portfolios right now that truly do deserve that epithet “subprime.”
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21 Responses to “Gore warns Wall Street of ’subprime carbon’ industry.”
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Why don’t we just start calling Republican economic policy subprime as well? As in “The Republicans have turned the US into a subprime lender.”
February 15th, 2008 at 9:58 amAs in “The Republicans have turned the US into a subprime lender.â€
Comment by clb72 — February 15, 2008 @ 9:58 am
Wouldn’t the US be a subprime borrower? I think in the current context China is the subprime lender.
February 15th, 2008 at 9:59 amyeah you’re right, sorry, not enough coffee yet.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:07 amWOW is all I can say. Did gore just threaten to hurt the American economy? Did he just insist we intentially hurt our economy. This guy is going nuts. Do the dems really want to cause that kind of havoc to America? Right now of all times? How much GDP is enough? How many job loses are enough for the Dems?
February 15th, 2008 at 10:22 amWOW is all I can say. Did gore just threaten to hurt the American economy? Did he just insist we intentially hurt our economy. This guy is going nuts. Do the dems really want to cause that kind of havoc to America? Right now of all times? How much GDP is enough? How many job loses are enough for the Dems?
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 15, 2008 @ 10:22 am
You’d rather have a job now than have a safe planet for your grandchildren to live in. You selfish coward.
And besides, that’s a false dichotomy, there’s a lot of job growth in clean industries and technologies for those people who work at dirty industries right now.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:25 amWOW is all I can say. Did gore just threaten to hurt the American economy? Did he just insist we intentially hurt our economy.
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 15, 2008 @ 10:22 am
Um, no. Actually, he said nothing like that. He warned that businesses need to adapt their business plans to a changing carbon market, or they will hurt the American economy. That’s really not even remotely like threatening to “intentially” hurt the economy.
Moron.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:28 amRoger_Roger,
Are you an idiot? Gore’s pretense is that businesses should analyze their products and services. If there is an assumption that carbon is “free”, then they need to take a hard look at their business model.
For instance, if I sell building materials, how much carbon is released into the atmosphere during the construction process? Since we understand that greenhouse gases are causing harm to our climate, we need to start thinking in these terms. Simply discharging our waste into the atmosphere or throwing waste “away” doesn’t cut it anymore. There is no more “away”, everything ends up somewhere. If we don’t manage this problem, the results are going to be continually worse for the quality of life on this planet for all living things.
Get a grip, this is an OPPORTUNITY for the US to take the lead. Companies that factor in true waste costs will be more efficient and better able to compete. The playing field has been skewed for decades (centuries), by the assumption that throwing things away doesn’t cost anything. With 6+ billion people on this planet, that time is past.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:29 amHow much GDP is enough? How many job loses are enough for the Dems?
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 15, 2008 @ 10:22 am
You’ll have to ask the republicans; they’re the ones destroying the economy, the military, and American prestige worldwide.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:32 amStrange just how stupid RR really is. I read that investors need to be aware that there will be a cost to bussinesses that are reliant on energy sources that contribute to global warming. Now is the time to invest in alternative energy sources, sources that offer new investment opportunities with substantial returns for those who do invest.
RR doesn’t realize that once the children are out of office and sane sensible people are in office we will see the truth, not the lies that the Bush administration had worked so hard to give us.
My message to RR is “pull your head out of the sand”.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:34 amObviously RR doesn’t understand investing.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:08 amI hope Al is right that eco-unfriendly businesses will be hurt by the next big market trend of people seeking environmentally-friendly products from environmentally-friendly corporations, where businesses that refuse to change their ways (or can’t because their PRODUCT is a pollutant, like oil) will gradually be driven out of business.
But the change is bound to come SO slowly, providing polluters ample time to retool their business so attract those “eco-dollars”, that only those with the most carbon-heavy stock portfolios will suffer.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:40 amBushitCo has turned America into a subprime nation.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:06 pmTo the trolls who seem obsessed with Al Gore.
It is Mr. Gore, sir.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:39 pm#12,
Why are you here, if not just to parrot your party’s talking points? You did not post anything about Gore that hasn’t been discredited numerous times. I suppose your going to try and tell us that Gore said he invented the internet too?
The only hate I’m filled with is for the ignorance that people like you “catapult” (to paraphrase your leader) on a daily basis.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:39 pmSo you want to tack another cost to Business (the ones that use carbon which is all of them). Adding a cost to the American economy means less capital, which means less GDP and less Jobs. Seems like a very bad idea to me.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:46 pmrr, please show the proper respect to Mr Gore and submit your statement as a request in the future.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:51 pmI am sick of liberal fear mongering over the environment. It is truly disgusting and unAmerican.
Comment by Liberals Are Filled With Hate
gonna suck to be you then for the forseeable future…..after bush moves to south america….
February 15th, 2008 at 1:05 pmafter bush moves to south america….
Comment by Fred — February 15, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
Then he can be around all of the other Nazis and their families who moved there after WW2.
The new B-Science Fiction “They Saved Bush’s Brain”
Seriously though, would these Neo-Cons like sticking their nose on unregulated car exhausts or drinking PCB-Laden water? It was Progressives that got laws to protect even their sorry asses from environmental pollution.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:21 pmSeriously though, would these Neo-Cons like sticking their nose on unregulated car exhausts or drinking PCB-Laden water? It was Progressives that got laws to protect even their sorry asses from environmental pollution.
Comment by Brain From Planet Arous
I think it’s shortsightedness…..inherent in people who support the repubs……they won’t be upset until it affects them personally…..kinkda like the taser thing. It’s ok for now but when they start tasering first and asking questions later it will be a different story……wer’re almost there with the tasers.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:06 pmDon’t worry about it southern man…..it’s out of your hands anyway……you don’t really get to even add any input from here on in……your day has come and gone and you have been found lacking.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pmThat’s Mr Gore to you sm
February 15th, 2008 at 3:43 pm