Bankruptcy

Trey Smith

Let's say you share a joint bank account with someone (partner, child, parent, grandparent, etc.). The monthly bank statement arrives one day and you discover the other person has been writing checks and spending money like there's no tomorrow. Nothing has bounced yet, but your once high balance is a lot lower than you think it should be.

You sit down with your fellow account holder. "We've got to rein in some of this spending," you say. "It's not sustainable." Your mate hems and haws a lot, but reluctantly agrees to spend in a more responsible manner. You feel good that the two of you reached a civil agreement without you having lost your cool.

Everything seems fine and dandy...until the next monthly bank statement arrives. It quickly becomes apparent that your little talk last month was just that -- all talk. Your mate's spending habits haven't abated. In fact, they are getting worse. While there continues to be a positive balance in the account, you are teetering toward insolvency.

"I thought we had agreed to reduce our spending!" you screech at your partner. "Well, I agreed that YOU should reduce YOUR spending," your partner responds. "I have certain responsibilities to maintain. Besides, you have to spend money to generate money."

You go round and round. Finally, your mate agrees to "try" to cut back on excessive spending. You are not altogether confident that this agreement will make any difference, but you have impressed upon him that he is spending more than is coming in and, if he can't control his spending, the two of you will soon be bankrupt.

When the next month's bank statement arrives, you nervously open it. To your utter amazement, not only has your mate not cut back at all on his spending, he is spending at a higher rate than ever before. You now have a staggering negative balance that will take years to pay off. Sadly, the prospect of paying it off is bleak because your partner gives all indications that he will continue to spend beyond your means.

I share this little tale in terms of the following bit of international news.

Global carbon dioxide emissions hit a record 9.1 billion tonnes in 2010, after a year of the highest growth ever, a new study has found.

"This is the highest total annual growth recorded, and the highest annual growth rate since 2003," reported an analysis by the Global Carbon Project published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change. The project is an international science research partnership founded in 2001 to develop a complete picture of the global carbon cycle.

If you haven't figured it out all ready, the developed nations of the world (like the US) are represented in the above story by the recalcitrant account holder.