How about this? Former US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP, a
Batptists and Bootleggers coalition if ever there was
one) member, cap-and-trade energy rationing lobbyist
Caterpillar, is buying mining equipment manufacturer Bucyrus.
Surely you remember
them?
This comes on the heels of CAT slipping away from USCAP, which
in turn came after admirably dogged education campaign and pursuit
for explanation of the peacocking boondoggle by Tom
Borelli.
Yes, yes, this is styled as “Caterpillar is expanding its mining
business as coal and metals producers raise investment to meet
growing demand from emerging economies.” (Bloomberg, emphasis
added). But I wouldn’t read too much into that; that’s where the
growth is now and, sadly, for the foreseeable.
To pretend that this does not signal that CAT’s inane,
admittedly not well-considered flirtation with a politically
correct agenda is finished is to ignore as much as all manner
of CEOs had to ignore in order to buy their consultants’ advice
that cap-n-trade was ‘inevitable’ so they’d better try to
cut some deal getting goodies in return for support. All they
got in return for this expensive, absurd advice was a black eye for
the reputation-harming pose it led to (more than a few
customers I met contacted both CAT and John Deere, furious, to
ask, ‘do you even know who your customers are?’). Others
among us gave them
much better, free advice that it would prove to be BTU
II.
CCX, Caterpillar…who is next on the cap-and-trade pantheon to
fall from Olympus?
RickS| 11.15.10 @ 6:41PM
I toured the Black Thunder coal mine near Gillette, Wyoming last week. It's the largest open pit mine in the country. One of the employees there told us that the day before they had given a tour to some executives from Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. Apparently they were pretty stoked about the demise of cap and trade with the new Congress coming in and were probably going to make a significant investment in coal.
Occam's Tool| 11.15.10 @ 11:22PM
Since Buffett was an Obama supporter, a significant investment in coal is the least Berkshire can do to make amends.
JP| 11.16.10 @ 7:14AM
Government favors, subsidies, and set-asides are the only growth industry left in this nation.