How to Explain 'Cap & Trade'

I have no idea who suggested this, so he will get no credit, but it's a great way to explain how carbon "cap and trade" works.

Instead of carbon, let's substitute the word "food." Under a "Food Cap & Trade" system, in order to "save the planet" from disaster, a man who tends to overeat would face huge taxation for his food consumption.

But the government-authorized solution for him is simple: He need merely to buy the "food credits" from some poor Somalian who won't be eating today.

The guy gets to have his double quarter-pounder with super-sized fries and Coke, his conscience assuaged. The dude in Somalia still doesn't eat, but some grateful Somali warlord has a bit more jingle in his pocket, and the United States of America gets its piece of the action. Which of course they will spend ten times over to give us universal (socialist) health care.

Which, in all likelihood, will tell the fat food-eating guy that he is ineligible for a quadruple bypass because he has abused himself and is obviously not a member of the deserving poor.

I'm not sure if there's a lot of justice in this system, but it's a system.