The next great bubble: Carbon Trading!

Via The Corner I saw this Telegraph blog post:

And here’s the great thing about it. Unlike traditional commodities markets, which will eventually involve delivery to someone in physical form, the carbon market is based on lack of delivery of an invisible substance to no-one. Since the market revolves around creating carbon credits, or finding carbon reduction projects whose benefits can then be sold to those with a surplus of emissions, it is entirely intangible.

Seriously, the entire market that has grown up around global warming indulgences (I’m sorry, “carbon credits”) is one of the most strikingly absurd-on-its-face facets of the global warming debate. It’s one thing to tax carbon consumption, but the whole “cap and trade” scheme — particularly the “trade” part — is bound to end poorly.