Barnaby Is Right

Take a look at the wonderful ClimateSmart Home Service.

See the handsome salesman on the front. With his fashionably unshaven smile. And his shiny suit –

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See the big boldface “savin’ bundles” slogan. With the big red “Book Now!” call-to-action. Leaping out against the glittering, sparkly tinsel green theme background.

It almost looks like gold money falling from heaven.

Green heaven.

And indeed it is.

But it’s not money from heaven for you, dear reader.

It’s money from heaven for the government.

Because this particular carbon credit scam is brought to you by Local Government Infrastructure Services Pty Ltd.

A company that is owned by the Queensland Labor Government’s Queensland Treasury Corporation:

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Oh yes, it all looks very plausible, very convincing … provided that you first ignore the fashionably attractive model, the winning smile, the shiny suit, the catchy slogan, the big red call-to-action, the chintzy money-from-heaven background, and the nausea-inducing “Saving Bundles” downloadable ringtone that all shriek “Too good to be true”.

Indeed, ignore these telltale signs, and it looks like a wonderful deal to save you money. And save the planet. And all “for just $50”.

Provided that you only look at the What You Get page.

Delve carefully beneath the surface, however, and what you find is the truth.

It is a government-run carbon credit scam.

If you allow yourself to be moved and guided by self-interest and greed … the goal behind every sales pitch … then all you will see is What’s In It For Me.

Your ears will be tuned to Radio WII FM.

And you will fail to notice the fine print.

For example.

You will fail to notice that the “4 stand-by eliminators with remote control” retail for about $50 including postage … if you believe the government fine print:

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You will fail to notice that the “water and power saving showerhead” retails for “around $30” … if you believe the government fine print:

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You will fail to notice that the government has told you that they will only give you the new showerhead if your existing one uses “more than 9 litres per minute” …

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… and that the government is only giving you a new one rated at … 9 litres per minute:

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You will fail to notice that the government has not told you that a ‘3 Star’ WELS rated showerhead is the lowest of the new 3-6 star WELS ratings, and that a 6 Star rated showerhead would use only 6 litres per minute (33.3% less):

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You will fail to notice that all prices mentioned on the ClimateSmart website are only government-claimed retail prices, and that when bought by a government in bulk … from China no doubt … the true cost of each item would be chicken feed.

Indeed, you will fail to notice that while telling you the retail value is “around $30”, the government is only offering to supply a basic 3 star “showerhead”, which you can buy yourself at Bunnings for $15.23…

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… and you will fail to notice that you can buy a fancier one at Bunnings, with 3-function adjustable spray, and a new height adjustable arm and baseplate, for just $24.95:

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You will fail to notice that the “up to 5 power saving light globes (CFL)” the government will supply (but not install)…

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… can be bought at Bunnings for $5.70 each:

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You will fail to notice that the government continues to treat you like a dumb worthless peasant, by only offering you “up to 5” non-dimmable CFL light globes, supposedly because “the available technology is too expensive to be provided as part of this program”…

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… even though you can buy a higher wattage, dimmable CFL from Bunnings for just $10.50:

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You will fail to notice that the government has not given any indication of the retail cost of the “wireless power monitor”:

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You will also fail to notice that the “wireless power monitor” is just a gimmick that even the government concedes (in the fine print) “provides indicative electricity costs” only (ie, guesses); an “information tool” of dubious efficacy that can not be used to calculate your actual electricity costs … even though the promo page of the government website claims “it is a handy little device that shows you exactly how much electricity you are using“:

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Instead, you will probably be taken in by the glowing rhetoric about fancy features, and in the absence of any government claims as to its retail cost, you will probably be fooled into assuming that this power monitor is the greatest thing since sliced bread and must surely be an expensive high-tech device … especially if you are an older person easily impressed and/or overwhelmed by electronic gadgetry.

And so you will fail to notice that, of the 3 different “wireless power monitor” models on offer…

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… you can buy the same models on eBay for around $80 including shipping:

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You will fail to observe the reality that you are not even getting the “services” for free, because the cost of paying the “licensed electrician” to come out and assess your home power usage, and install these crappy bottom-of-the-range eco-products (about 2 min “work”), is actually paid for by the government … meaning by you, through your taxes:

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You will also fail to observe that the “customised power and water savings plan” is not free either, because just like every government “service”, ultimately it will be paid for by you, through your taxes:

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And if perchance you do go to all the trouble of noting the details of the offer, and then shopping around for price comparisons, to determine if you really are getting a good deal with all these lovely gimmicks the government is offering you “for just $50”, only to discover that all you are really getting is

$50 (stand-by eliminators) +

$15.23 (showerhead) +

$28.50 (light globes) +

$80 (power monitor) =

$173.73 “worth” (cough!) of crappy and potentially toxic products, plus a couple of ephemeral “services” you don’t need that you will ultimately pay for anyway in higher taxes, well then, it is almost certain that you will not have time nor energy left over to notice the most important fine print detail of all.

What does the government get out of this “ClimateSmart” deal?

Carbon credits.

More specifically, the rights to your household’s future carbon abatement.

When you sign the ClimateSmart contract, you are signing over “all rights and entitlements arising from any greenhouse gas or energy abatement resulting from or relating to the Products. The abatement will then be transferred to the Queensland State Government”:

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I’ll bet that not 1 in 10,000 ClimateSmart customers understand what they really signed up to.

Because like all scams, that vital detail is not presented in boldface slogans, and splashed all over the front of the “offer”.

In fact, it is not stated anywhere that you are likely to look.

It is hidden in the fine print … where all scammers know that most people never look.

Have you signed up to the ClimateSmart scheme scam?

Feeling a little miffed with the Queensland Labor Government right now?

Then you will also have failed to notice the one sentence in the entire ClimateSmart website – carefully buried in the answer to a so-called “Frequently Asked Question” that few if any would bother asking, much less seek the answer for – that reveals what the ClimateSmart scheme really is.

A carbon credit scam.

The Federal Green-Labor Government will “accrue carbon credits for the installation of water efficient showerheads”:

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Now, given that the Federal Government has just jammed a carbon derivatives scam deceitfully titled the “Clean Energy Future” down our collective throats, and under this Queensland Labor Government ClimateSmart scam they can now accrue carbon credits from your having a shower, well, you’d like to think that they’d at least have the decency to give you a 5 or 6 Star WELS-rated showerhead, rather than bottom-of-the-range 3 Star junk, wouldn’t you?

Indeed, you’d like to think that any honest person with a shred of conscience and decency would state clearly on the front of their website … in big bold letters … what it is that they are really offering –

ClimateSmart Home Service:  For just $50 of your hard-earned money … AND your signature handing over all your household’s rights and entitlements to any future carbon abatement credits … we’ll give a bunch of eco-crap that you could buy yourself on eBay and at Bunnings for about $175. It’s all bottom-of-the-range rubbish that we bought for next-to-nothing by the container load from China. But it will make you feel good about yourself to do this, and will help assuage a little of the climate guilt trip that we’ve laid on you day-in day-out for years. You can even imagine that it’s helping you reduce the rate at which your electricity bill is inevitably and irresistibly going through the roof, thanks to our new Bob Brown-mandated Big Bankster Bonus-facilitating carbon tax.

Think you’ve been conned?

Want to seek legal redress over being defrauded … a huge class action perhaps?

I guess you also failed to notice the “Disclaimer – Limitation of Liability” in the Terms and Conditions of the ClimateSmart contract:

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So you see, dear reader, while regular businesspeople are subject to all manner of laws against misleading and deceptive conduct, such as the new Competition And Consumer Act 2010 (formerly known as the Trade Practices Act 1974), when it comes to politicians, they really are a law unto themselves.

As you can see in the fine print, if you suffer “any expense, damage, loss or costs… as a result of use of or reliance on the content of” the government’s ClimateSmart website, that’s too bad for you.

You’ve been conned.

Legally.

As only government can do … and get away with.

Not only did you pay $50 to sign away your rights to any carbon credits arising from your future household carbon abatement, in exchange for some near-worthless low-grade eco-trinkets.

You also signed your acknowledgement that the government’s website is not responsible or liable for your loss … even though you relied on their website content for the information that led to your decision.

And there you were, thinking that all you were signing was a form granting your permission for that nice friendly-looking “electrician” to turn down your hot water service thermostat, and put a couple of  gadgets in your meter box and power points.

“Get all this! (and more)” –

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Indeed.

Now you know, dear reader.

The “and more”, is the financial rape-and-pillaging that you are getting from the government.

The Great Global Warming Hoax is money from heaven.

Green heaven.

But not for you.

The Big Green money is only for Big governments, and in particular, for the Big Banksters and rent-seekers behind the push for global carbon derivatives trading.

When I say “heaven”, I don’t mean it metaphorically.

Like the tax on thin air, carbon credits come right out of thin air too.

Because carbon credits are not even real. They do not exist.

Just like the “money” that you think you have in your bank account, carbon credits are just computer-generated electronic digits.

It’s all a con-fidence trick.

Which is why all our economic luminaries in the Treasury and the RBA and the “expert” financial media – the very same ideologically-blinded, highly-paid and publicly lauded useful idiots who could not foresee the GFC – are always banging on about “maintaining con-fidence”, and “increasing con-fidence”. Or when things are turning or have turned to poo … then it’s all about “restoring con-fidence”.

Con-fidence in their system.

The bankster system.

You are a slave to their debt-based “money” system – “credit” created in a computer and “loaned” to you at interest in exchange for a signed contract to become a working slave to a bank.

And soon, you will be a slave to their new version of the same system – “carbon credits” created in a computer, and sold by the government on threat of 10 years jail for non-compliance, to businesses who will pass the cost on to you … with “padding”.

Just like the need for public “con-fidence” in the banksters’ electronic debt-based “money” system, there is a need for “con-fidence” in their electronic carbon credit system.

As we saw in Government’s RIS Admits Carbon Emissions “Audits” A Propaganda Exercise, the government is far more concerned with public con-fidence in the efficacy of their “carbon pollution reduction” scheme scam, than they are with actually reducing emissions:

7.4    Ensuring compliance with reporting requirements

Under the proposed reporting requirements liable entities will report on their own emissions. As they will also have to acquire (buy) permits to cover these emissions, they will have an incentive to underreport their emissions…

If there was a perception of widespread non-compliance, community support for the scheme would be much harder to maintain (in the absence of community acceptance and support, the long term future of the scheme could be called into question). At an international level, confidence in the legitimacy of the emissions reductions driven by the scheme is a key consideration in whether other countries will be willing to ’link’ with the Australian scheme. International linking is an important element in reducing the overall costs of the scheme…

Finally, business perceptions of compliance by other businesses with the scheme could have implications for their own compliance. That is, if one emitter believes that other emitters are non-compliant with the scheme, this may influence their compliance decisions.

In closing, it is important to note that, in considering impacts on the credibility of the scheme, perceptions of non-compliance can be more important than the actual level of non-compliance…

While perceptions of non compliance should be linked to actual levels of non-compliance, this need not be the case. Importantly Government actions to ensure compliance can improve perceptions of compliance with the mechanism even in the absence of widespread non-compliance. For instance, even if there were widespread compliance with the carbon pricing mechanism, the absence of an auditing mechanism could lead some stakeholders to question the accuracy of reported emissions. This would have impacts on confidence with the carbon pricing mechanism even in the absence of widespread non-compliance.

It’s all about public perceptions.

And thus … perception management.

The Clean Energy Future legislation is nothing more than a con-fidence trick.

It is a banker-designed, and Green-Labor government (not public) mandated carbon derivatives scam.

And the Queensland Government’s ClimateSmart Home Service scheme scam is just one of what will doubtless be many crooked variations and offshoots of the same Ponzi theme.

Money from heaven.

But not for you.

(h/t to Twitter follower @IanRobert_60 for drawing our attention to the ClimateSmart scheme)

Tags: carbon credits, climatesmart, LGIS, queensland government, Queensland Treasury Corporation, scam