"Burning our money to warm the planet," was the Canadian economist Mark Jaccard's trenchant criticism of his country's climate change policies.
In the case of worldwide subsidies on food and fuel, we can extend the charge sheet to damaging the economy and starving the poor.
Many governments subsidise basic goods or set official prices for them: petrol and diesel for transport; kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas for cooking; water, bread, rice, cooking oil. These subsidies are defended on the grounds that they protect low-income families.
With soaring food and fuel prices, governments are extending their largesse. In the Middle East, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia all recently increased or restored subsidies, and, farther afield, countries such as the Philippines and Bolivia joined them. Even the UK announced a tax raid on North Sea oil companies to fund a cut in petrol prices.
Yet such schemes are disastrous.
First, they are bad for the environment. It is well known that carbon footprints in the Gulf countries are among the world's largest, and that China is the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases, as the right to drive an SUV overrides the welfare of Syrians struggling with droughts and Pakistanis made homeless by floods.
Second, subsidies are bad for the countries that apply them. Money that could be spent on developing infrastructure, clean energy sources, education, agriculture, science or other worthy causes is being burnt.
Anyone who has braved Bangalore's rush-hour traffic might wonder whether it would be better to instead direct fuel subsidies to improving roads and public transport. Yemen's water crisis is exacerbated by incentives for pumping groundwater.
In 2009, US$312 billion (Dh1.14 trillion) worldwide went on fossil fuel subsidies, according to the International Energy Agency. The burden on Egypt was $12bn, some 6 per cent of its GDP; for Saudi Arabia, the bill for fuel alone was $36bn.
These subsidies distort the whole economy. In China, oil companies cut supply to customers and cannot afford to build petrol stations.
In India, diesel is adulterated with cheap kerosene, which damages engines. Saudi Arabia is increasingly burning oil for electricity rather than exporting it, while all the Gulf countries apart from Qatar are struggling with gas shortages.
Subsidies can even imperil national security. Egypt's dependence on cheap US wheat has damaged its own agricultural sector. China and India's rapid growth in oil demand puts stress on the whole global energy industry, leading to record prices. Yet these countries can cover only a fraction of their needs with their own production.
Attempts to "secure" overseas petroleum by their state companies are well known, yet why is a proud nation such as China kow-towing to Kazakhstan or Sudan to satisfy the Chinese motorist?
It seems mystifying that rising superpowers deliberately encourage strategic vulnerabilities that will take decades to unwind.
Third, subsidies do not even help those for whom they are ostensibly intended. Especially in poorer countries, it is the rich who are more likely to drive cars and air condition their homes. An IMF study found that 42 per cent of assistance went to the richest 20 per cent of households; the poorest 20 per cent received only a tenth of the money.
World food prices have climbed, partly fuelled by subsidies. An unwanted sandwich is thrown into the bin in Kuwait, while a family starves in Mali.
Badly needed subsidy reform is not happening because the upper and middle classes are politically influential and articulate enough to defend their undeserved benefits, while governments are unwilling to put extra burdens on their populations at a time of recession and revolution.
The obvious solution is to replace subsidies with a system of targeted payments to poorer households.
These can be spent on any of a family's necessities, giving the poor more control over their own lives. The transfers can be made fiscally neutral - and since charging market prices will cut waste and over-consumption, there should be a net gain to the economy. New smart cards in countries such as India work well to identify recipients and minimise fraud.
Governments need to explain why food and fuel subsidies cannot continue. The US, for instance, has never had a mature political debate about bringing petrol prices closer to European levels, while Middle East governments cut or raise subsidies with little attempt to justify either decision. Not surprisingly, this leads to protests and incomprehension.
Political leaders need to craft schemes that protect the poor, then explain them clearly and honestly. We must end these subsidies now before planet, economy and society go up in flames.
Robin Mills is an energy economist based in Dubai, and the author of The Myth of the Oil Crisis and Capturing Carbon
