Posted on 05/13/2015 6:05:00 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
To the casual observer, the American right can appear an undifferentiated wall of denial and obstructionism on climate change, but behind the scenes there are signs of movement. A growing number of conservative leaders and intellectuals have come to terms with climate science and begun casting about for solutions. Led mainly by libertarians and libertarian-leaning economists, they've begun to coalesce behind a carbon tax, which they consider the most market-friendly of the available alternatives.
Jerry Taylor, a longtime veteran of the libertarian think tank Cato Institute who recently founded his own libertarian organization, the Niskanen Center, is a vocal proponent of this perspective. About five or six years ago, he says, he was convinced by a series of discussions, mainly with other right-leaning thinkers, that he was wrong on climate policy. His position "fundamentally switched."
In March, he released a new policy brief, "The Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax," which argues for a steadily rising "revenue-neutral" fee on fossil fuel producers. Aside from a small portion set aside to cushion low-income households, all the revenue would be devoted to reducing other taxes.
Taylor has in mind a deal that would impose a carbon tax in exchange for the removal of other climate regulations, notably EPA carbon rules and state renewable energy mandates. He's been defending the proposal on Niskanen's blog, mainly against attacks from skeptical conservatives.
On a hot DC day last week, I caught up with Taylor at Niskanen's office — housed, improbably, in a buzzing shared workspace filled with attractive millennials and their startups. The muggy weather had him in a natty seersucker suit, full of energy and eager to dig into wonky details.
(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...
Uhhmmmmm, no. Based on every prior idea to do so, they just use the anticipated revenue for more government spending! They will already have spent ten years of anticipated revenue on the day such a bill is passed. Congress borrows revenue against legislation on the docket today before penny #1 ever rolls in.
When will people ever be honest with themselves?
Think of it like this. 60% (roughly) of America is clinically insane. Reality denial is a well established component of insanity.
Before even getting into the whackjobs at men seeking men outlets, look at the DNC platform and how many people push those policies and believe in them fully. that’s almost 50% right there.
Then you have moderates that display schizophrenia switching back and forth and back again between polar opposite candidates and positions. There’s at LEAST 10% of the population.
Then you have right winger types (so they claim) that think one gets conservative governance by voting for proven liberals with magic R’s on their titles.
Well over 60% in total even if you back off a percentage or 5. All the above behaviors are classic indicators of insanity. Complete inability to deal with reality.
NOTHING convinced him- intellectually- that man is changing the climate:
“And about that same time was Mass v. EPA [the case in which the Supreme Court authorized EPA to regulate carbon emissions] — the baseline was no longer non-intervention. It was no longer a conversation about whether we should do something, but a conversation about how we should do something. And with the endangerment finding at EPA, and the Clean Power Plan going forward, the regulatory drumbeat is banging. It’s pretty hard to argue that a carbon tax is a less attractive answer than, say, EPA regulation.”
It’s a manifestation of Stockholm Syndrome LOL!
(And he sees where the bucks are.)
No tax is ever ‘revenue neutral’, ever.
This guy may think he is bright, but he is another lib drone.
*drink*
When I realized that I seriously reconsidered my 25ish years of sobriety. It sounds pretty far out, but if you think about it, it really is true.
If you put a DSM 4 down next to any of those people/behaviors and checked the boxes, where would it lead? Not to stable well adjusted individuals with a grasp on reality, thats for sure.
It doesn’t seem quite as bad if you don’t think about it too much!
Oh hell...reality denial....61% ;)
I believe in reality only when it forces itself upon me. The rest of the time, I’m living in a novel.
I play lots of Skyrim. Sure the people are just pixels with scripted lines but they show more intelligence with AI scripting than most humans in 2015.
When I see articles about kids abandoning reality for life playing videogames, I no longer see it as a bad thing. Of course the libs are hard at work with Gamergate trying to turn that industry into a propaganda wing as well.
Several of my children like Skyrim a lot. I’ve even learned a little about it, just by hanging around my own house.
It’s only a problem for me when the gamer isn’t earning his own living. Are you paying attention, Tom?
Hey, eventually we’ll do that by being batteries anyway. Win/Win!
/Matrix
I have suggested this for our household, but implementation is lagging.
Gah, it’s past my bedtime. Tom is watching “The Producers” and will be guffawing for the next hour and a half, but I’ll sleep through it.
Jumper cables. Works every time. Attach them to any human and you will see immediate bursts of energy. ;)
Don’t tempt me.
I’m just sayin’...;)
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Dooooooo Itttttttt......
Dooooooooooo ITTTTTTTTTTTTT~~~~~~
From the article, “Or third, [skeptics] just don’t have a strong case. And I increasingly began to worry that it was the latter.”
Oh yeah, right! The skeptics have satellite data and observations showing that the earth has not warned for 18 years and 4 months now despite rising CO2 levels supporting their position. The alarmists have constantly adjusted historical records to support their side.
HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THEIR SCIENTIFIC PATRIOTISM!!!! Or something... ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.