Good News and Bad News

So which do you want first? Ok Arch coal, which has already filed for bankruptcy, has suspended its permit application for the Otter Creek coal tract in SE Montana. Apparently the whole insane enterprise of digging up the over-burden, building a railroad spur along the Tongue River, then shipping the filthy coal by rail car 1000 miles to load onto mega barges and float to China lost its "economic viability". Shocker. Downturn in China's GDP growth and perhaps growing awareness of climate costs put the kybosh to the whole deal. But was that the good news or the bad? Though Arch is publicly whining about the "regulatory environment", this is just ideological blather, it was The Sacred Market which killed this project. And while activists are congratulating themselves (and yes, they helped) the fact is the victory is less sweet because climate activists did not in the end expose the true rot and corruption and insane logic which is the Economic System itself. Arch is still digging up coal. Under chapter 11 they will shed debt, cut pensions and benefits of workers, and continue their rampage across the western landscape. For awhile. Our Democrat governor, running for re-election, was set to approve the project. Most labor unions supported it ( a "transition to the clean economy")and most average citizens, but in the end it was the tyrannical God they all worship that stopped it, only reinforcing his power and authority. Investors, shareholders and traders listened to His wisdom, not the puny protesters sitting on the tracks, dancing on the tables or occupying the rotunda. Meanwhile, the same God is instructing investors and developers to keep building in Miami Beach even though sea level will rise six feet, (the most conservative estimate) by the end of the century. Because all those bloated, white retirees need a sunny place to spend their Golden years. So until we can drive home the point that it is the profit system and its mad logic that is slowly drowning us, we will run our asses ragged stopping insane projects. Its not a project here or a project there, its the Whole Project of Private Property.