Carbon Tax

[cawacko]

Finished a book last night on the new sharing economy and how platforms such as ZipCar and AirBnB talked into excess capacity which is a benefit to us all etc. etc. The author wouldn't shut up about how these new platforms can help the fight against global warming. She went on and on about a carbon tax being a key going forward. She couched a carbon tax in a win/win way for the earth/environment and the economy with there being a potential for explosive growth as a result. There are others of course who argue that a carbon tax is nothing more than the federal government trying to take control over the economy.

What say you?

 

[Billy the Great Khan]

You want to make the earth cleaner and greener? Make super tankers and other large commercial shipping vessels nuclear powered. Those put out 10000x the pollution of cars.

 

[cawacko]

You want to make the earth cleaner and greener? Make super tankers and other large commercial shipping vessels nuclear powered. Those put out 10000x the pollution of cars.

Please excuse my ignorance on this but it is something that has been proposed? Or proposed and shot down?

 

[Billy the Great Khan]

Please excuse my ignorance on this but it is something that has been proposed? Or proposed and shot down?

Both...sort of. Nuclear power for anything us a huge boogey man to environmentalists of all shapes and sizes because people are ignorant. So any time it's even mentioned it's usually shot down. That's why all our reactors are from the 60s.

But I guess that's off topic from your original post about Carbon Taxes. Those are a terrible idea because they're punitive to industries that cannot operate without burning fuel, like manufacturing of anything. Which would just further incentivize sending that sort of work to places with less stringent energy regulations. So you'd lose revenue in multiple areas, hurt the American people, and not do a single positive thing for the environment. And on a more philosophical level, taxation shouldn't be used as a tool to modify people's behaviors. It sets bad precedent.

 

[cancel2 2022]

Please excuse my ignorance on this but it is something that has been proposed? Or proposed and shot down?

The largest cargo ships run on the cheapest crap known as bunker fuel, which is the leftovers from cat cracking. It is so viscous that is almost like tar and has to be heated to get it to flow through the fuel lines to the engines. It is incredibly dirty but on the oceans no one can do much about it.

 

[Celticguy]

The point of a carbon tax is > the federal govt. It's intended as a stream of money to the third world. Of course it also lines the pockets of pols and their owners (manbearpig for example aka algore).
The corrupt 3rd world will be happy with the skimmed pot of gold at least as long as they don't know how large the skim is.
They have taken to pretending to understand business lately and come up with nonsense like this.
It's still as stupid as ever. Maybe worse.