Yes, agreed, it’s a big sum for the pockets taken from. It’s also a very nice sum to be able to steal, as much of it will be in some countries. And yet:
The GDP of Bangladesh is closing in on $500 billion a year. So, Bangladesh is $500 billion of $50 trillion, about 1% of the developing country GDP. We’ll not go far thinking that Bangladesh will get about 1% of those climate damages or development money — 1% of $100 billion is $1 billion a year. So that’s the amount we’re talking about, $1 billion a year.
Yes, that’s real money. And yet, well, it’s also about 0.2% of what Bangladesh already produces each year — 0.2% isn’t, in fact, a huge amount. We take off more than that when we circumcize someone.
Okay, so we can say that this is investment money, not just production or consumption. Well, okay, we can go further and say this is foreign money coming in to invest in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority says it received proposals for $3.2 billion in investment in just three months. So $1 billion a year is only 8% of what foreigners are already trying to invest. Or another report on foreign investment, direct FDI was $3.4 billion in the year.
In terms of economic development out there it’s just not an important number.
In terms of economic development out there it’s just not an important number.
If we think of it in economic development terms, it’s a smallish number. But it’s not about economic development, and we’re already skint.
Just to point out. This is published in Bangladesh. So it’s advice to those there not to get too hung up on whether it arrives or not. It’s not about us, here at this end, having to pay it.
Why, when bankers are threatened, QE is obviously justified and essential, but when anyone else is threatened, suddenly QE is theft, and inflationary? Are you unaware of the double standard?
The amount is irrelevant, It’s grift, pure and simple. We don’t owe the “third world” a penny for “climate change” or anything else come to that. The have been free for several generations now.
They have access to the fruits of western civilization to use or not as they choose. They clearly choose not, so why is that our problem?
Tim – yes, it’s spot on for the intended audience. I’m just getting a bit tired of being used as a paypig by UK politicians.
Yes Steve. Since they want to steal this from me, I’d say they can just fuck off.
And it’s peanuts compared to the amounts already spent by the West developing technology that the developing world benefits from. Just the sole development of the mobile phone has been an immense capital transfer from the West to poor countries, probably surpassing anything in human existance.
climate change is from CO2
Bollocks, the evidence begs to differ.
“Why, when bankers are threatened, QE is obviously justified and essential, but when anyone else is threatened, suddenly QE is theft, and inflationary? Are you unaware of the double standard?”
Yes we have noticed……
Shouldn’t we be pointing out how much we’ve already given these various countries and are planning to give, before we start to even consider acceding to this obvious shakedown? And after that what about all the benefits they’ve received form our industrialisation and consequent advances in science?
And then there’s their own efforts. Bangladesh used to be in the news every year because of the loss of life and other damage from floods, now the problem has largely been solved people rarely ask why. Even the BBC’s Bitesize gets it:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zgycwmn/revision/4
And now we have Pakistan blaming climate change for the devastation of their recent floods and nobody has the balls to point out the problem is poor government and corruption, instead we allow our selves to be berated by one of the nastiest regimes in a area of nasty regimes and agree to throw more money at corrupt politicians, as if that will solve the problem.
That’s not the point. It is aa=n extra £100B they that can go through the system to help towards their bank account while they can bask in the admiration of the gullible for the sacrifices they are making.
Even now I am astounded by the number of normal sensible colleagues that believe what these snake oil sellers are peddling.
It’s enough to fly the people in support of the idea to a small island so we can forget about them and fire up the charcoal grill.
@Jim,
Don’t feed the trolls
There’s a local area where the indigenous community is demanding payment for the billion dollars of natural resources that have been extracted from there, when I asked how much the government had spent on infrastructure, healthcare and education vs tax revenue from the area (including extraction licenses) you’d think I’d suggested killing a roomful of puppies and kittens.
From the PoV of those demanding it, I’ve no doubt it’s a shakedown. Here’s a possible way to make them give us money, let’s give it a go.
But from the PoV of May, Verhofstadt, Sunak et al, I’m wondering if it’s more a deliberate humiliation.
There’s a Theodoee Dalrymple quote about propaganda being designed, not to persuade, but to humiliate.
Like O’Brien wanting Winston Smith to say 2+2=5, or Gil Madred wanting Picard to say he had five lights.
I do wonder if Sunak would see it as a feature rather than a bug if we were forced to atone for the climate.
Who here was debited a single shilling for QE payments to banks?