The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.
Scientific instruments showed that the gas had reached an average daily level above 400 parts per million....While directors in the ruling One Percent class have long denied and then created doubts about this issue, now we finally find coverage in corporate mainstream media that, yes indeed, greenhouse gases are reaching dangerous levels...but, according to them, no one knows the impacts this will have!
Now while scientists expect CO2 levels to continue to go up, they're not entirely sure what that means for humans or where on the planet the impact will be felt the most.The real dilemma is that the system of capitalism requires growth, which means burning relatively cheap fossil fuels. So, what are we to conclude? The One Percent are stupid? No. The real answer is that they are completely and hopelessly addicted to the wealth, and even more, to the power that their system of capitalism delivers to them. It's essentially a dog-eat-dog system where so many of the rewards of power and wealth go to the top dog. Hence, the tendency that we have witnessed: the growing concentration of wealth and power in fewer hands throughout capitalist history.
The system is also well known in its history for producing booms and busts which mostly results in disasters for working people. This stirs up opposition among working people which threatens the system. Capitalist ruling classes have a variety of ways to cope with this opposition: support fascist or police-state regimes to ruthless crack down on worker opposition (Nazi Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, etc.); go to war to distract working people from any revolutionary thoughts, to defeat national competitors, to create economy activity through production for war, to create demand after their wars from all the destruction of assets; promote social welfare policies to reduce such pressures (FDR social policies in the 1930s), make attempts to promote another economic bubble to create economic activity; control the media to keep workers from understanding economic issues and distract them with mindless spectacles and entertainment (for the latest example, see this); exercise close supervision over their education so that they remain ignorant of the causes of the many economic crises and remain committed to capitalism; various gimmicks such as "quantitative easing" (increasing the supply of money which always ends up in the hands of the rich) and, worst of all, austerity policies (cutting and/or selling off of public services and social supports); etc.
The fact that in the current economic collapse austerity policies have been emphasized demonstrates the confidence (or arrogance?) of the current international capitalist class has of maintaining their rule despite worker opposition. Are they deluded or realistic? Are they so high from the drugs of concentrated power, wealth, and weapons that they can't see the threats of climate destabilization and resource exhaustian looming ahead?