The Paris climate meeting approaches. Let the freak-out begin.

As the big climate confab in Paris approaches, the forces of hysteria are upping their game. Roman Catholic leaders gathered at the Vatican to make a joint appeal. They urged a “complete decarbonisation” of the world’s economy. Ostensibly, that’s to help the poor countries battle the effects of climate change, but, in reality, it’s all about dismantling capitalism. This pope has been no friend to capitalism and global warming is the perfect guilt trip toward its annihilation. 

The great irony is if the pope really wanted to help the poor countries he would encourage development. The only way countries develop is through energy. Lots of cheap energy. 

Don’t know if you heard about this, but Greenpeace set up this power grid in a little village in India last summer. It was supposed to demonstrate how viable green energy is in the third world. As it turned out, solar power was three times the cost of regular energy, so the village scrapped solar for coal-fired electricity.

President Obama is trying to put coal out of business so there’s no alternative. Much like the liberals did with our lightbulbs. Before they outlawed the incandescent lightbulb, CFLs accounted for less than 3 percent of the lightbulb sales. In order to get us off inexpensive incandescent and onto expensive CFLs, they have to force us by law. It’s unlikely the free market would’ve made CFLs viable anytime soon.

Incidentally, the CFLs in India cost about $10. The incandescent bulbs cost about 15 cents. The solar grid in that little Indian village only supports CFLs. Another reason they opted to go back on the coal-fired grid.

And now we learn there are actually people waking up all distressed about global warming and worrying constantly about the survival of life on earth. Yeah, I know. These folks need to get a life. Probably can’t afford one after paying for that expensive green energy. They’ve actually come up with another psychobabble expression for their malady: Pre-traumatic Stress Disorder. Yes, the other PTSD. This one isn’t based on any horrible experience. It’s based on the imagination of the idiot who suffers from it.

A wise man once said: “Worry is interest paid on trouble before it’s due.” I’ve lived my life by that saying. I never worry about anything I can’t change. And I certainly don’t dream up things to worry about, but that’s exactly what these people have done. They worry about hurricanes that never materialize. We’re now in a ten-year hurricane drought. We haven’t had a Cat 3 or above hit the United States in 120 months. Hurricane Patricia, that was billed as ‘the worst storm in history,’ turned out to be much ado about nothing. Minimal damage and no fatalities.

By comparison, Hurricane Camille plowed into Mississippi in 1969 and killed 259 and caused $9.13 billion in damage in today’s dollars. Now, that was a storm. But it wasn’t the worst to hit the U.S. The worst was the Labor Day hurricane in 1935. That’s before we were naming them. It killed as many as 600 people. The worst by damage was Hurricane Andrew in 1992. It did over $26 billion in damage. Let’s see 1935, 1969, 1992. Do you see a pattern? Neither do I.

Oh, but these PTSD folks do. They see more hurricanes, more droughts, more rain, more heat, more cold. The simple fact is there’s no more of any of that than there ever has been.

Maybe the pope needs to rethink that birth control thing. The last thing we need is more people exhaling CO2.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.