That electric car’s not quite as green as you think

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a stablecoin of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - That EV [isn’t as green as you think](. - Regulators are [coming for your crypto](. - Voters who don’t like Trump [might prefer Trump Light](. - There’s [no inflation in computer-chip prices](. Green Is As Green Does Unless you’re one of those [rolling-coal]( types — in which case you have likely received this newsletter in error — then you’d probably like to believe your consumption decisions are guided by at least a vague awareness of their impact on the planet. But even the greenest-tinted products may not be as planet-friendly as you think. Take electric cars. As Conor Sen points out, investors are throwing money at EVs while [dooming fossil-fuel-burning cars]( to the same fate as brick-and-mortar retail and print media: being stripped by private equity for parts and profits and left to die. That’s sort of a good thing — except that putting all [polluting companies into shadowy private hands]( could leave them free to roll coal without any investor oversight, as Mark Gilbert notes. And anyway, electric cars don’t just grow on trees, to be gently harvested by well-paid union workers. They are [built of aluminum and rare metals]( and other stuff that must be dug from the ground and smelted and mashed into car-like shapes at great expense of energy, writes Anjani Trivedi. Ironically, oil majors could help with this problem, sort of. Liam Denning writes they [could sell battery makers the geological data]( compiled from decades of scouring the Earth for MOAR OIL, to help find battery metals in places that aren’t human-rights nightmares. If nothing else, this could could give oil companies a slightly greener tint. Unlike Big Oil, Apple has wrapped itself more convincingly in verdant garb. But like EVs, it could still do better. Tim Culpan notes the process of making phones and such still burns a lot of energy, as does recycling old gadgets into new ones. He suggests Apple could help itself and the planet by [reusing and refurbishing old parts and devices](.  Even our understanding of the cost of climate change is skewed by spotty information. Mark Buchanan points out most of the scary numbers you see about the [damages of global warming are purely financial](, eliding the massive damage being done to the environment, which has a real economic cost. It’s not the obnoxious rolling-coal smog but the stuff you can’t see that often hurts you the most. Bonus Climate-Change Reading: Speaking of harmful stuff you can’t see, farmers must [make cows less gassy](. — Amanda Little The House Always Wins: Crypto Edition Cryptocurrencies are designed to be decentralized, unregulated and anonymous, which makes them perfect for hackers, criminals and, uh, [mayors]( of New York? But even if you consider this a feature and not a bug, [nothing gold]( can stay, Crypto Boy. Wherever the crypto world crosses into the real world, regulators are waiting to pounce. Bitcoin futures ETFs are of course watched by the SEC, and their proliferation is being [delayed]( by the kind of market middlemen crypto purists hate. Meanwhile, [regulators are rushing to tame]( the [Mos Eisley]( cantina of decentralized finance, where fraud and life-shattering losses abound, Lionel Laurent writes. The U.S. Treasury is also [figuring out the risks of stablecoins](, which are tied to real currencies but may or may not actually be, how do you say, stable. Bloomberg's editorial board writes these can have real-world benefits, but regulators shouldn’t wait for Congress to pass laws to make them safer.  As Stephen Mihm writes, the lesson of the long history of nation-states and private currency is that [the nation-state always wins](. Bonus Meme-Investment Reading: Corporate leaders should [embrace the stupid](. — Matt Levine Election 2021: Lessons Were Learned Everybody’s still figuring out the meaning of Tuesday’s elections, but Tim O’Brien has spotted one clear theme: Republicans won, or at least outperformed expectations, by [practicing Donald Trump’s grievance politics]( in a way that didn’t spook the suburban moms. It could be a potent combination in elections to come. The other lesson here is that President Joe Biden is unpopular, and therefore all Democrats are unpopular. Matt Yglesias writes you can [see this most plainly in state-legislature races](, which were awful for Dems. Most voters don’t follow these races at all — pop quiz: Without Googling it, who is your state representative? — making these bellwethers of national political trends. For example, see the [trucker]( who took out the New Jersey Senate president in a campaign on which he spent just $153, just four years after the [most expensive]( state legislative campaign on record failed to do the same thing. Bonus Political Reading: - Vladimir [Putin is not the anti-woke hero]( conservatives are looking for. — Leonid Bershidsky - Yesterday was a demonstration of the [basic competence of the Biden White House](. — Jonathan Bernstein Telltale Charts Computer-chip makers are signaling [demand is slowing down](, a bad sign for the global economy, warns Tae Kim. Roku may not look like much now, but [it could be the next Netflix competitor](, writes Tara Lachapelle. Further Reading If you think the mood is bad in the U.S., [it's at "hoarding soy sauce" levels]( in China. — Shuli Ren Merck’s antiviral treatment is a [huge new weapon in the Covid fight](. — Therese Raphael Credit Suisse is [blowing a chance to shed its investment bank]( and truly transform itself. — Paul Davies OPEC+ [may or may not be a cartel](, but it’s certainly not a market regulator. — Liam Denning Even if Havana syndrome [is psychosomatic, it’s no less real](. — Faye Flam ICYMI Biden set a [Jan. 4 deadline for vaccine mandates]( for big employers. Scientists found a gene that [doubles the risk of Covid death](. 23andMe will use [DNA tests to make cancer drugs](. Kickers Theranos used [corporate logos to make fake research reports](. Scientists [turn sunlight and air into fuel](. (h/t Scott Kominers for the first two kickers) Area “[jetpack man” was probably]( just a balloon. (h/t Mike Smedley) A [timeline of the human condition](. Notes:  Please send jetpacks and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022