Capitalism Saves the Planet?

For years, we have been told that our rampant obsession with Capitalism and a consumer society was leading to the demise of the planet.

Ironically enough, the recent economic downturn has sent the critically important (or so we have ben told) recycling biz into a nosedive. Turns out, no one wants to buy recycled materials if there is no market to use them to make other products.

Just months after riding an incredible high, the recycling market has tanked almost in lockstep with the global economic meltdown. As consumer demand for autos, appliances and new homes dropped, so did the steel and pulp mills' demand for scrap, paper and other recyclables.

Cardboard that sold for about $135 a ton in September is now going for $35 a ton. Plastic bottles have fallen from 25 cents to 2 cents a pound. Aluminum cans dropped nearly half to about 40 cents a pound, and scrap metal tumbled from $525 a gross ton to about $100.

Ooops. Guess we need that evil capitalism idea after all. Though perhaps the new Obama Administration could mandate price controls on recycled scrap. That way we could continue to save the planet through the goodness of government, and avoid the ickiness of a market-driven solution....