Whether We Like It or Not

An article in the NY Times titled Blistered Earth: How Capitalism is Destroying the Planet.... just kidding, it's actually titled :Exxon Mobile Backs Fuel Cell Effort- and it is quite telling. It explains how Exxon Mobile, under investigation for its morally bankrupt business model, now has a keen interest in Carbon Capture and Sequestration aka "Clean Coal". A big promoter of this imaginary technology ( besides the coal companies and Montana politicians) is Emily Carter ,director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton. Which is basically an astro-turf front group for Exxon with a veneer of elite academic legitimacy. Emily insists: "We are going to be burning fossil fuels for the vast majority of our electricity for some time to come WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT." In other words, it is out of our control, Market Forces will dictate. This is echoed by the CEO of the fuel cell corporation who says: "When you can make it affordable with private capital, everyone wins." So what are these magical forces that decide when something is "affordable"? Well part of the force is real force, as in, the threat of violence. Then there is the force of ideological hegemony, cultural dominance and influence. Then there is that subtle coercion of dependency; depending on a paycheck, depending on a line of credit, depending on infra-structure so that "everyone wins". But of course not everyone wins and this is the other threat hanging over everyone's head. On a side note, old Pat Buchanan was interviewed on NPR this morning and basked in the glory of his redemption. All those years as the kooky outsider, the insurgent, and now he could tell the Republican establishment to kiss his white ass (and he handed the interviewer her white ass as well) All he had to say was : "Look, it's democracy in action! Trump speaks a language all these people understand!" The language of obscene jouissance.