For What It's Worth.....

My thoughts on the last two meetings

Having Lennar homes back at the planning meeting was very interesting after listening to their sales pitch at the community meeting. Lennar tried to sell the community on their houses and their “donation” towards their part of the traffic signals. At the meeting, Lennar said they would put $1.5 mil toward the lights and turn lanes, in front of the planning commission, they offered $2.3 mil. They did not seem real prepared to be asked if they would pay “actual” costs. I was not sad to see them denied. What did interest me is that all of a sudden, Clif Hutson is comfortable putting the brakes on all of this development.

Leading up to the elections in August, I have been going through the planning board minutes for the last four years. I have yet to see Hutson expressing concern about growth. There has not been development that he hasn’t liked yet. Now, after they have begun building 5000 units, now he’s ready to slow down? Is that actually the case, or does he see the writing on the wall and want to be re-elected? Is it that he knows the people will hear exactly what is going on at these meetings? While all meetings have been public, not all of them have been covered. Maybe he knows that I will put in writing what happens. Whatever it is, I have a strong sense of skepticism. I am highly suspicious of anyone that has been involved in politics for most of my life. (I’m 48)

That brings me to the next issue, this C-PACER program. I promise I’m not completely crazy. C-PACER looks to have come out of Washington state. We lived there for 15 years, I promise you, nothing good for the people comes out of that place. (maybe apples) This program was explained in my last article. What I didn’t explain was how this relates to ESG. ESG is the Environmental, Social, and Governance scores. The SEC, part of our government, is looking at developing a “universal reporting framework” for ESG. In Europe, they are using ESG scores to help push their European Green Deal. C-PACER is a financing option to help businesses meet their ESG scores on the environmental side. All of this sounds great doesn’t it? A loan that allows businesses to put in LED lights, low flow toilets, solar panels, and electric charging stations for their employees. Here is a screenshot from one of the banks working in the Chicago area.

You really want to tell me that these banks are all of a sudden REALLY interested in the planet and conservation? Again, I’m a skeptic. This is all about money. It always is. I want to know who is behind these banks? Who has this kind of money to lend out? Why on Earth would they be making loans for “green” businesses? Here’s why:

All of these screenshots are from this article out of Chicago where this program has been implemented. The bottom line is this…..the taxpayers will be on the hook for this loan until the property is sold if the business fails. Sounds like a great idea to me.

Our city administrator sees nothing wrong with this program. Alderman Hutson stated that the town center would like to use it. Somehow I think that neither one of them sees the big picture. The big picture is this….ESG makes EVERYTHING more expensive. If Apple wants to build a new phone, they are responsible for the environmental impact each of their suppliers has on the world. If their materials are mined in Africa, built in China, packaged in Eastern Europe, and shipped to NYC, Apple will be fined taxed for each company that that is out of compliance. This is just one example. (my own interpretation of how this works) I’m way late to this party. ESG is out there. C-PACER is out there. This isn’t about the environment, this is about money. How do I come to this conclusion? BlackRock is involved. BlackRock is one of the largest multinational investment companies in the world. If you believe that they care one iota about climate change, I have a bridge to sell you. Here is a great little video about BlackRock. (It’s only 2 minutes long) Even CNBC has stories on BlackRock. This is no longer conspiracy theory, this stuff is really happening. My question for our board, is- Does White House TN really need to be involved? Can’t we wait this out and see what happens? I’m not sure any of us are really smart enough to see all of this for what it is. ESG, SEC, C-PACER, RNC, DNC, EPA, Just a few of the players.

Bottom line is this, someone is making money, and it’s not us. China isn’t going to stop producing coal plants because they are making money. Many countries in Africa don’t care about climate nonsense because they are just trying to feed their people. We are going to be the losers. We are going to pay the price to “go green.” We will pay in inflation and taxes. This article here discusses it quite well. While I disagree with his idea completely, I’m sure a carbon tax or ESG tax or whatever you want to call it, is coming. Just remember, all of these taxes will get passed on to us, the peasants. We aren’t part of their game.