The environment: communists vs. capitalists

Liberals often blame pollution on "greedy corporations." So how do communist societies deal with pollution? The New York Times reports on how Chinese Communist Party officials lower pollution:

This capital city’s skies were clogged with pollution, as is often the case, and China’s government was concerned. So it summoned officials of the American Embassy here to a meeting.

But the session had nothing to do with hazy skies. Rather, Chinese officials were peeved that the Americans were monitoring pollution themselves, and posting on Twitter for anyone to read, their more precise findings, which usually judged the smog far worse than official Chinese readings.

Chinese officials feared the conflicting information “might lead to ‘social consequences,’ ” an American Embassy cable quoted the officials as saying. So could the Americans please block Chinese citizens from visiting the Web site?

In sum, the communist solution for pollution: lie about it.

The details my differ but Al Gore uses the same strategy.