Economics 2, Politicians 0

While we're on the subject of brilliant economic experts, lets mention California Attorney General Jerry Brown's news conference today in which he announced he is seeking a settlement to an utterly ridiculous lawsuit filed by his predecessor, the inimitable Bill Lockyer:

California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced in San Francisco today that he has asked six automobile makers to discuss a possible settlement of an unusual public nuisance lawsuit aimed at addressing global warming.

At the same time, Brown said, his office will "vigorously" pursue the lawsuit even while seeking a settlement.

Brown said at a news conference at the State Building that global warming is "a gigantic problem" and the lawsuit filed by the state last fall is "an opportunity to get to some solutions."
He said, "The point of the lawsuit is, the sooner we get at it, the better."

The lawsuit against the American and Japanese auto makers was filed in federal court in San Francisco in September by Brown's predecessor, former state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
The suit is based on the legal theory that carbon dioxide sent into the air through automobile tailpipes creates an environmental public nuisance by contributing to global warming.

The defendants are General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Motors Corp., Toyota Motor North America Inc., Honda North America and Nissan North America.

Brown released a letter he sent to the auto makers' chief lawyer, Theodore Boutrous of Los Angeles, on Wednesday, asking for a meeting with the chief executive of each of the companies "to discuss resolution of our pending litigation."

Jerry appeared tonight on Kudlow & Company. I caught the tail end of Larry's appearance on the Hugh Hewitt show where he described the interview and couldn't help but laugh (Larry, not me). Of course he made the obvious point that any sort of resolution here that penalizes the Auto makers will cause far more problems as a practical matter than it could conceivably solve.

I imagine though that Jerry doesn't really care...he's got a planet to save.