An Inconvenient Business Decision

If the National Football League decided to go in a different business direction and stopped showcasing football, one would consider it, to quote our current Vice President, "a big fucking deal."

Perhaps there is no possible way for the NFL to do business without football. Yet that are equally popular corporations based on a specific, tangible thing that could survive without showcasing that "thing."

Imagine a world where Dunkin Donuts stopped selling donuts, or Burger King stopped selling burgers.

Imagine, also, if a major political pop culture figure was a major investor in and inspirational role model for Dunkin Donuts or Burger King.

The news coverage of a Dunkin Donuts pulling dounts from their menu would be immense.

Very few media outlets, however, covered the recent fate of the Chicago Carbon Exchange, one of the cornerstones of Al Gore's effort to combat climate change. The key principle of CCX was its voluntary greenhouse cap-and-trade program.

"Was" is the key word - CCX announced on October 21 that it was discontinuing the program. Instead, CCX will launch a new registry program for carbon offsets. But that represents a monumental failure for climate change enthusiasts in general and Al Gore in particular.

It also represents a major victory for the American ideals of free markets and individual liberty. One of the key figures at American Electric Power, a utility company that participated in the Exchange, sums up CCX's failure:

"Fundamentally with any program that relies on voluntary compliance for something not yet mandated into law, it makes it more difficult ultimately to have as vibrant a market as you'd want," said Bruce Braine, vice president of strategic policy at AEP. "That was the ultimate weakness. For a period of time, up until the last year, a lot of it was thriving on anticipation there would be legislation."

Any business that bases its success on voluntary compliance imposed on a complacent populace should not succeed in America. Its failure both should not be worthy of major news coverage.

But considering that a former Vice President and Oscar award winner was thoroughly repudiated with this move, it should rate some coverage.