Gore warns of investment in carbon-intensive firms

Al Gore used some salty language from his rural roots this week in warning "Wall Street leaders and institutional investors ... to ditch businesses too reliant on carbon- intensive energy — or prepare for huge losses down the road," reports The Associated Press.

The former vice president "compared the financial risks facing investors in carbon-using industries with the meltdown in the market for subprime mortgages given to people with blemished credit records or low incomes," John Heilprin writes.

Gore said, "You need to really scrub your investment portfolios, because I guarantee you — as my longtime good redneck friends in Tennessee say, I guarandamntee you — that if you really take a fine-tooth comb and go through your portfolios, many of you are going to find them chock-full of subprime carbon assets."

(We don't know if this just a coincidence, but Goldman Sachs & Co. just reduced its ratings on the stocks of three major coal producers: Massey Energy, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal, according to Dow Jones Newswires.)

Last Call of National Journal's Hotline said Gore was "losing us at 'guarandamntee,' but still scaring us." Hmph. Guess there's no one at The Hotline from the Highland Rim of Tennessee and Kentucky, where Gore and I grew up. "Guaran-damn-tee," best hyphenated in print for clarity, is a common phrase -- and a good one, if used selectively. Just wish he hadn't said "redneck."