Fraud squared

Climate scientists aren’t the only climate fraudsters:

Copenhagen climate summit: Carbon trading fraudsters in Europe pocket €5bn. Carbon trading fraudsters may have accounted for up to 90pc of all market activity in some European countries, with criminals pocketing an estimated €5bn (£4.5bn) mainly in Britain, France, Spain, Denmark and Holland, according to Europol, the European law enforcement agency.

I know I’m shocked. Who would have ever imagined that a scheme dreamed up by Enron would be susceptible to fraudulent activity? Global trading in securitized cow farts is going to make sub-prime mortgages and tulipmania look downright rational by comparison if it’s permitted to get rolling. All it really amounts to is one last desperate attempt to blow a bubble that will delay the inevitable debt-deleveraging a little longer.

I’d be a lot more disturbed and this obvious insanity if it weren’t for that side of me that loves the prospect of chaotic madness. We’re going well beyond interesting and approaching downright exciting times. Still, the fact that the fraud is being unmasked before the bubble even takes shape tends to suggest that it’s going to burst prematurely.