The fool's gold of carbon trading, or why it isn't working in the U.K. and why we shouldn't try it here. The U.K. government is raising billions with this scheme - but it hasn't decreased carbon emissions one iota. In fact they have risen. But never let facts get in the way of a government scheme to make more money! And when we go through this debate here in the U.S., look to see whether anyone observes the problem inherent with the government collecting revenue on the sale of credits for a substance we want businesses to stop producing. If they really want to stop carbon production, they should just straight tax it. But then we wouldn't be projecting billions in revenue over the next ten years, because carbon producers would actually have an incentive to stop producing it. Not that I particularly favor either option... I would rather see incentives offered to those that make drastic reductions in carbon output.