Will the real economic managers please stand up?

From the Executive Summary of the Stern Review:

"Using the results from formal economic models, the Review estimates that if we don’t act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year, now and forever. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more.

"In contrast, the costs of action – reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change – can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year."

To borrow from Liberal MP Bob Baldwin, either the Liberal Party supports jobs, or it doesn't.

Over the past week it has become abundantly clear that it does not.

Apparently we're back to the days of fear-driven politics from the Liberal Party.

Climate change represents the greatest market failure the world has ever seen, and the Liberal "small government, free market" Party is backing away from clean, market-based responses which ensure the right outcome, in favour of clumsy government interventions that have no guaranteed outcomes.

The Liberal Party criticises the Government when it forgets or ignores Treasury modelling on economic stimulus, yet when it ignores Treasury modelling saying that 25% emissions reductions costing us 1.2% of GDP are well below the "no-action" cost at 5-20% of GDP there is ... ... silence.

Will the real economic managers please stand up?

Inspired by http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/17/2518463.htm?section=justin