The invasion of the Chinese refrigerators

Sounds like a bad B movie but it isn’t.

Call it: The Invasion of the Chinese Refrigerators.

Eighteen-wheelers stacked with hundreds of Chinese-made Haier fridges stopping door-to-door in the remote countryside and on city streets have been as common a sight here as Cuban
military transports. An estimated 300,000 households, in a country of 11 million people, are replacing aging appliances — all in the name of an effort to lower the county’s total energy use.

And this being Cuba, not only are the replacements mandatory — but many people have had to take out loans from government banks to pay for the new appliances.

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In a country known for its rolling blackouts and aging patchwork of power systems this year was dubbed Year of the Energy Revolution. But despite sweetheart deals with Hugo Chávez’s government in Venezuela and Chinese interests, oil especially
has been hard to come by. It isn’t rare to pull into a station in a major city and find no gas, even at $4 a gallon.

Nowhere, however, have energy price increases hurt the average Cuban as in the price of electricity.

Eighteen months ago, the average household paid 10 to 15 pesos a month. That has jumped to 50 to 60 pesos — as much as one-fifth of the average monthly salary.

Isn’t Fidel and communism just wonderful?(Cue the sarcastic laughter) Well here in the USA we have a similar type of government philantrophy going on.

California’s legislature approved the broadest restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions in the nation yesterday, marking a new stage in the accelerating drive for a more aggressive national response to global warming.

The California bill requires a 25 percent cut in carbon dioxide pollution produced within the state’s borders by 2020 in order to bring the total down to 1990 levels. In at least eight other states, political momentum is building to take similar steps to limit emissions of greenhouse gases linked to climate change, a
trend that could increase the pressure for a national system despite the Bush administration’s consistent opposition to mandatory caps.

The California legislation also provides a statewide market system designed to make it easier for heavily polluting industries to meet the new limits. They would be able to buy “credits” from companies that emit lower emissions than the caps allow, rather than having to invest in cleaner new technologies.

The measure cleared the California Senate on Wednesday night. The Assembly, on a 46 to 31 vote, sent it on yesterday to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who pledged this week to sign it.

All to halt those terrible effects of climate change like all those hurricanes we’re supposed to be having. Instead California is likely to drive jobs out of state.

Government always knows what is best for its citizens and the public continues to take it and pay through the nose for their stupidity. When will the revolution happen or are we all sheep?

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