Lead?

Editor,

While it is encouraging to see a few Republicans coming to the realization at this late date that their intransigence regarding climate change has pretty much cooked the human race, I have a number of issues with Mr. Paulson's analysis.

First, the 2008 financial collapse was not caused by government "incentivizing us to borrow too much to finance homes." It was caused by deregulating banks so they package and sell the mortgages they write instead of holding them as banks always did before the 1980's. There are many other facets to this story -- all larcenous behaviors by the banks, starting with throwing due diligence overboard because bad loans are someone else's problem now not theirs -- none having anything to do with government "incentivizing us to borrow too much to finance homes."

Second, the problem with climate change is not that the USA has failed to lead the rest of the world. It is that the USA refuses year after year to join the rest of the world in addressing climate change. The size of the American economy, not that the USA does not lead, makes cooperation by the USA essential. The USA does not need to lead. It needs to join the rest of the human race.

The USA spends $700 billion a year on its military, not counting multi-trillion-dollar wars, to keep Middle Eastern oil flowing. It also spends $500 billion a year on tax breaks and outright subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Please do not talk to me about market based solutions.

Re: "The Coming Climate Crash" (6/22/2014)