Today in Fake News

Fake Recycling

The story today out of Fort Smith, Arkansas is that they were operating a fake recycling program. It wasn't an entirely fake program. The city was collecting recycling and sending it to a processor, but the processor stopped taking recyclables about 6 months ago. As they looked for a new solution the city neglected to inform the public and kept collecting the recycling as normal, only to throw it into the landfill with the rest of the refuse. Can you blame them? The local lefties would scream themselves a hernia if they knew their sacred saving-the-Earth ritual had been taken from them. And indeed their response has been something like that.

They thing about recycling is that it's bullshit. Not entirely, of course, but it's not this panacea that it's made out to be. Think about a plastic bottle. If it costs more to make one out of recycled plastic than molding new plastic, what does that mean? Recycling junkies will focus only on the fact that one less plastic bottle makes its way into the landfills, which is true. (They'll invariably talk about plastic in the oceans, but nearly all that comes from Asia, and certainly not from Fort Smith). However, if the costs of using recycled materials are higher, then it must mean the energy costs of recycling are higher than sourcing new material. Recycling means cleaning the product, sorting, and engaging in some sort of smelting process to get the desired material. That all takes energy. Energy has its costs, most notably CO₂ emissions, which the liberals love to hate.

The more economical solution tends to be the more environmental solution. With the exception of aluminum and copper, recycling is not economical and ultimately is harder on the environment. If recycling was economically feasible then industry would be willing to pay for those materials, like they do with aluminum and copper. If someone is adamant about reducing plastics and other materials in the landfills -- a laudable goal to be sure -- then they must be willing to pay the costs of engaging in a less economical activity. The article states that the trash collection in the city runs at $13.28 a month -- a low fee -- and that recycling is included at no additional cost. Here is what happens when you deny reality for too long. The people demanded a recycling program so they could feel like they're doing their part to save the world, but they want it to be free, even though it inherently has costs. The residents are now furious with the city for failing to achieve an impossible task: letting them engage in uneconomical virtue signaling at zero cost.

To me the real kicker is just how minor the impact of the program is anyway. The article states that the recycling collected amounts to 1.25% of the total haul. These people are going nuts about a 1.25% increase in landfill use. That's just about a rounding error; hardly worth considering in the big picture. Families and businesses can easily reduce their trash output by half if they're willing to be conscientious and make some sacrifices. But if they were willing, they probably wouldn't be so attached to the recycling program to begin with.

Fake Legislation

The AHCA passed the House today. It's uncertain if it will make it through the Senate. What's not too surprising is that Republicans are touting it as the promised repeal & replacement of Obamacare, when in reality it takes us from 100% Obamacare to about 90% Obamacare. Of course the Republicans would do that; hyping your own effectiveness is standard politician behavior. It's still fake legislation. A minor step in the right direction to be sure, but it comes nowhere close to reversing Obama's impact on our healthcare woes.

More interesting is the Democratic response. They're hyperventilating like the Republican legislation is the worst thing in the world. I believe Nancy Pelosi actually said something to the effect of it being the worst possible legislation. Bernie Sanders is pronouncing that thousands of people will die. But it's 90% Obamacare! If 90% of Obamacare is the worst legislation imaginable, then 100% Obamacare can't be all that great after all, now can it? As I mentioned the first time around in response to RinoCare, this is about the best that Democrats -- who control nothing -- could ask for. But to them even fake change, even the appearance of compromise, is evil and equivalent to murder. 

They're despicable. And it gets worse. I intended to lay into the Republicans in this post for their childish behavior in Congress. Mark Levin played a clip on his show of representatives singing the "hey hey goodbye" song in Congress. I assumed this was Republicans saying goodbye to the hated Obamacare legislation. I was surprised they would be so tacky. But after looking up a source to post I realized it was actually the Democrats singing it to Republicans, for reasons that aren't clear to me. These people have reached levels of childishness that shouldn't be possible. They're nothing but adolescents who call names, throw tantrums, and engage in subsophomoric displays of their immaturity. I could not possibly respect them any less.

And that's your fake news for the day.