Jonathan Larson — Sachs on climate change

Oh goody. Jeffrey Sachs has decided to bring his wisdom and expertise to the topic of climate change. Things are going to get better now, I'll bet. NOT 

Sachs comes late to the environmental debates. He's been busy. In 1985, he was the leader of a team from Harvard who decided that Bolivia's economic problems weren't caused by global macroeconomic trends but the fact that her tin miners were making too much money. So he designed a bundle of programs that openly assaulted the social fabric which he called "shock therapy." (Yes indeed, he really takes credit for inventing that ghastly expression.) 

Fresh off his "success" at teaching neoliberalism to the Bolivians, Sachs would take his show on the road to Poland, Slovenia and Estonia. But his most notorious job was with the Yeltsin government between 1991-94. His lovely advice set Russia on a downward spiral that made the Great Depression look tame. Ever wonder how a bunch of corrupt kleptocrats made off with virtually everything of value and triggered an economic catastrophe that saw the Russian middle class destroyed? Ask Jeff. He was in the room when most of the decisions were made. In fact, the corruption surrounding Sachs was so odious, Harvard would eventually lose the contract with Russia and Sachs, who was once the youngest member of the Harvard faculty to have been granted tenure, was asked to leave. This is how he became a member of the Columbia faculty where he now spends his time defending his role in the Russian debacle and running their Earth Institute. 

Unfortunately, since Sachs' first priority is still to defend his role in Russia, he is forced to come up with environmental "solutions" that don't contradict his neoliberalism. Good luck with that. (The floggings will continue until morale improves.) And because his premises are so fundamentally dishonest, his advice on climate problems range from crackpot to goofy. For example, in his latest efforts, he claims that coal burning can continue because successful methods of carbon sequestration are just around the corner. His beliefs in saving the planet on the cheap are so bad they actually make Al Gore's look sane by comparison. 

Fortunately for the rest of us, Sachs the environmentalist cannot do nearly as much damage as Sachs the economic crackpot has already done.

The sad thing is that Sachs really believes in his heart that he is doing good.

Real Economics
Sachs on climate change

Jonathan Larson