The Chicago Climate Exchange, Pt. 1: An Elitist Redistribution Scam

Dave Johannes
May 16, 2010

The amazing thing about elitist scams are how under the guise of social justice they make the elite richer and more powerful. Socialism historically is predicated on a group of elitists building a society that reduces all of its citizens to a common standard of living. The resulting society does not value the individual, their rights or their achievements.

Currently the global and U.S. elite are pushing their climate change/green agenda with the threat of a global catastrophe. With this as their launching pad they have set in motion hundreds of laws and regulations, both domestically and through the U.N. designed to drive the world toward some form of “global governance” all while making themselves richer and more powerful in the process.

With this as a back drop, let’s talk about the latest scam brought to you by: the President, Goldman Sachs, Van Jones, Al Gore, George Soros and Franklin Raines just to name a few. Without further delay, let me introduce you to – The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).

So what is the Chicago Climate Exchange? Well, if the financial projections are right and the administration can ram through some form of “Cap & Trade”, it will be a $10 trillion cash machine.

According to a Fox News story by Fred Barnes,

“While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president.”

As a members of the board of directors of the Joyce Foundation, both Obama and Valerie Jarret served and were key players in providing nearly $1.1 million in two separate grants that were “instrumental in developing and launching the privately-owned Chicago Climate Exchange, which now claims to be “North America’s only cap and trade system for all six greenhouse gases, with global affiliates and projects worldwide.”

So why does a private foundation fund a private business? Who invests in a business that gets its start up funds from a private foundation? The list is impressive but we will get back to that in a minute. First a little history on CCX, from their website:

The institution that is today the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) began with a grant in 2000 from the Joyce Foundation, a leading philanthropy based in Chicago known for its innovative approach to public policy issues, which supported the inception, creation, feasibility and design of CCX. The support was provided as part of a series of special Millennium grants made by the Foundation to catalyze, support and reinforce ideas, concepts or institutions of lasting intergenerational significance.

An initial grant of $347,000 was made to the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University to provide technical support to Dr. Richard Sandor and colleagues to examine whether a cap-and-trade market was feasible in the U.S. to facilitate significant greenhouse gas reductions, using a voluntary regional Midwest model from which national and international lessons might be drawn.

A second grant of $760,000 was provided in 2001 to proceed with a design phase, which ran through 2002 and involved more than one hundred professionals in the corporate, public, non-governmental and academic sectors, who worked with Dr. Sandor, his colleague, Dr. Michael Walsh, and others to develop a core set of rules, protocols and design elements that would underpin and shape a pilot reduction and trading design.

In 2003, CCX launched trading operations, with the following 13 Charter Members:

American Electric Power, Baxter International Inc., City of Chicago, DuPont, Ford Motor Co., International Paper, Manitoba Hydro Corp., MeadWestvaco Corp., Motorola Inc., STMicroelectronics, Stora Enso North America, Temple-Inland Inc., Waste Management Inc.

Through their CCX membership, the above organizations were first in the world to make legally binding commitments to reduce all six greenhouse gases, in the world’s first multinational multi-sector market for reducing and trading greenhouse gases.

CCX is a U.S. corporation, and today remains the only emissions reduction and trading system for all six greenhouse gases and the only operational cap and trade system in North America. CCX has nearly 300 Members from all sectors and Offset Projects worldwide. See full Member list.

In 2005, CCX launched the European Climate Exchange (ECX), now the dominant exchange operating in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. CCX also launched the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE), a CFTC-regulated futures exchange that offers standardized and cleared futures and options contracts on emission allowances and other environmental products, the world’s first environmental derivatives exchange. Since 2006, CCX, ECX and CCFE have been owned by Climate Exchange Plc (LSE: CLE.L), a publicly traded company listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange. Richard Sandor is Chairman of Climate Exchange Plc.

It all sounds so innocent on the surface but when you dig a little there is cause for concern. This story will be two parts because it is complicated and troubling.

We’ll start with a little background on Cap & Trade. What is cap and trade?

The Cap – It is a system that sets a limit or a cap on emissions generated by fossil fuel use. Companies and residences will be given an emission limit based on either a formula or a historical profile. Over time the limit would be reduced to achieve a target that in theory would reduce the cumulative global output to 80% of 1990 actual output by 2050.

The Trade – Companies and individuals (residential allotments) that perform below their allocated levels can bank the unused units and sell them to companies that exceed their allocated units.

Besides the ones already mentioned, some of the other key players in this story are:

Al Gore, founder of the London-based Generation Investment Management, GIM purchased a huge stake in Chicago Climate Exchange. They are the fifth largest shareholder. Former Vice President Al Gore partnered with people from Goldman Sachs such as David Blood, Mark Ferguson and Peter Harris to name a few.

Franklin Raines, the disgraced former CEO of Fannie Mae is now a member of the Board of Trustees of Enterprise Community Partners. The stated mission of Enterprise, “We create opportunity for low- and moderate-income people through fit, affordable housing and diverse, thriving communities. Central to our mission is Enterprise’s fundamental commitment to give people living in poverty an opportunity to move up and out. We believe that these opportunities are best provided in communities with a diverse mix of affordable and market housing options, access to jobs and social supports, and a strong commitment to the environment and civic participation.”

However, before leaving Fannie Mae, Raines used Fannie Mae funds, in other words, taxpayers money to buy technology to measure and manage carbon credits. Patent No. 6904336 was approved by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office for this technology on Nov. 7, 2006 the day after Obama and Democrats won the election and took control of the House. The patent, which Fannie Mae co-owns with Cantor Fitzgerald subsidiary CO2e.com. The patent gives Fannie Mae a leg up on the fledgling carbon trading market. The result is a quasi government agency now has a major financial stake in the success of cap-and-trade legislation.

The patent, gives Fannie Mae proprietary control over an automated trading system that pools and sells credits for residential carbon reduction upgrades like solar panels and high-efficiency appliances. These credits can be bought by companies and utilities that don’t meet emission reduction targets. Under Cap & Trade, the EPA will determine arbitrary CO2 standards that could affect every manufacturing company in country. Is it a stretch to think that Fannie and CCX will come to a licensing deal of some sort on this technology – or is the deal already in place?

There are concerns on Capitol Hill. Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT) and Rep. Issa (R-CA) have been asking a lot of questions saying, “ We are troubled by evidence that, while Fannie Mae was funding hundreds of billions of dollars in risky mortgages that were a primary cause of the financial crisis, it was simultaneously pursuing a patent to capitalize on the potential of legislative efforts that would have the effect of increasing costs to millions of Americans.”

Rep. Issa also said, “Fannie Mae appears to have served as a full-blown liberal think tank for crony-capitalist ideas. While the crony-capitalist Democrats who ran Fannie Mae like Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson used these kinds of ideas to enrich themselves, it was the American taxpayers who were left holding the bag after they failed. It’s disturbing that Fannie Mae executives were positioning themselves in 2005 for financial gain from an Obama Administration cap-and-trade system, but given the huge amount of campaign contributions Fannie Mae poured over President Obama it should be no surprise.”

And then there’s Goldman Sachs who owns ten percent of the CCX and its 10 Trillion a year potential. More on them later.

Additional players who we will cover in part 2 of this story: Goldman Sachs, Maurice Strong, Dr. Richard Sandor and Joel Rogers.

So the Chicago Climate Exchange will become the next NASDAQ. They will trade in the greatest derivative ever conceived – an immeasurable unit of gas. Or as I have heard it said, puffs of air! A $10 trillion market of nothing but trading certificates!

Theoretically, the system would be adopted worldwide and the total global cap would be designed to reduce global warming. This sounds great right? But wait: it turns out that global warming might not even be real. This is not about saving the Earth. There’s a lot of money and power riding on climate legislation.

Cap & Trade will be just another tax and financial burden on the citizens of the U.S. It is an international wealth shifting program designed to weaken the U.S. economy, make elite richer and secure their power for years to come. Remember these are the same people that said:

“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?” – Maurice Strong, a primary power behind UN Agenda 21, architect of the Kyoto Protocol and CCX Board Member.

“I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.” and…

“Adopting a central organizing principle means embarking on an all-out effort to use every policy and program, every law and institution, to halt the destruction of the environment.” – Al Gore, founder of GIM and major investor in CCX

Wake up, America! Something is very wrong with this picture. Write your representatives and tell them we are not interested in Cap & Trade or subsidizing the cost of switching to alternative energy systems on an artificial schedule. We can be good stewards of the earth without destroying our country or making the elite richer. Through American innovation we will continue to move toward cleaner energy and more thoughtful environmental policies but not at the expense of our own economic security or personal liberties. This is a scam! This is redistribution of wealth and an elite power grab. More to come…