Forced to buy a fantasy

For a time, it was fashionable to buy a star in the sky and name it after a love interest, a new baby or a recently deceased loved one. Could anything be more romantic or more sentimental?

It turns out that the companies that take money from consumers for “naming stars” are the only ones who actually recognize the name. The practice is considered by many to be a kind of scam that profits off of the idealism of consumers. Money for a star name is just money for nothing.

It’s a lesson that Ontario politicians should listen to.

Like buying a star, Ontarians will be buying “carbon credits” starting January 1st — financial products conjured up out of thin air by the government. The unfortunate difference is that unlike a star name, Ontarians are being forced to buy them.

The Ontario government’s cap and trade scheme will limit the emissions Ontario companies can produce, and they must purchase “carbon credits” to pay for any emissions above their government-assigned limit. These “carbon credits” are financial products that are traded like other useful things on a government-created “carbon market.” But unlike other commodities such as pork bellies, corn or west Texas crude oil, carbon credits do not actually exist. You cannot touch them. There is no underlying tangible asset. The value of the carbon credit comes from a fictional demand that the government created by forcing businesses to buy them.

The closest carbon credits come to having a tangible asset is in California, where existing forests can be registered as carbon offset projects. The landowner can register an existing forest with the government and be issued a carbon offset credit that can be sold. With this kind of offset Ontarians will be buying carbon credits beginning Jan. 1 under a cap and trade system. project, nothing actually changes. Before the registration there is a forest and emissions. After the registration, there is still a forest and emissions, but now the forest owner has a cash infusion. The emitter continues to emit, but incurs a new cost, and pushes that cost down to consumers. Like buying a star, nothing will likely be eligible to be registered as carbon offset projects.

The criteria are currently being developed in conjunction with Quebec.

The idea behind the whole scheme is that it will lead to lower emissions and stop the march of global warming.

The problem, like buying