Clipmarks | hotdoge3's 'carbon tax.' clips

"The Post-American World."

Sat, 24 May 2008 10:05:04 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

The growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—is the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States.

Fareed Zakaria -"The Post-American World."

In Sunday's New York Times, Thomas Friedman writes that "It baffles me that President Bush would rather go to Saudi Arabia twice in four months and beg the Saudi king for an oil price break than ask the American people to drive 55 miles an hour, buy more fuel-efficient cars or accept a carbon tax or gasoline tax that might actually help free us from what he called our 'addiction to oil'.”

“the rise of the rest” — the Chinas, the Indias, the Brazils and even smaller nonstate actors — is creating a world where many other countries are slowly moving up to America’s level of economic clout and self-assertion, in every realm.

Tags: world, america, superpower

Why we need high oil prices

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:11:27 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: I know this sounds crazy, but i honestly believe that high oil prices in the short term (1-5 years) is a very good thing if it forces us to find alternatives. I am definitely concerned that if oil prices drop temporarily, the momentum behind alternatives such as wind and solar will die off - leaving us exactly where we are today - way too dependent on oil and way to harmful to our environment.

Clip Source: www.ft.com

If the Democratic party were correct about speculation and gouging, it should be demanding a Nobel Prize for futures traders and oil titans. They have done more for the planet than Al Gore, making the pump price of petrol so unthinkably expensive (almost half as dear as in Europe!) that the country has started to economise. Americans are driving less and buying smaller cars.

If ever there were a case for the maxim, get prices right, this is it. The way to curb carbon emissions is to add the environmental cost of carbon to the price of energy. The current oil price offers a good opportunity: when it falls (as it probably will) a carbon tax could be used to set a floor, making the transition to correctly priced energy much easier.

Tags: alternative energy, oil, politics

REALITY CHECK!

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:03:39 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: There is a frightening new global trend of denial...

Europeans think that they don't need to limit fishing...

Car companies don't think they need to improve fuel economy standards...

Bush thinks he can increase spending and cut taxes at the same time...

Jingoists think we are winning the war in Iraq...

Democrats think Hillary Clinton has enough experience to win an election...

Polluters think that Global Warming won't really happen...

Evangelicals think Jesus is coming back soon...

Fundamentalists think they can win the war against modernity...

The truth is: we're stuck with this world. The rules DO apply. No free passes. You have to face the music sometime.

We must choose realism over comfortable delusion. Unfortunately, for now, wistful thinking will rule the day until we let it all collapse around us.

Then we'll stand there scratching our heads saying: How could this happen?

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Fishing until all the fish are gone

Sharon LaFraniere showed how mechanized fishing fleets from the European Union and nations like China and Russia - usually with the complicity of local governments - have nearly picked clean the oceans off Senegal and other northwest African countries.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

U.S. agency says 17 states can't set car emission rules

WASHINGTON: The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday denied California and 16 other states the right to set their own standards for carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

US deficit expected to grow even before economic stimulus package is unwrapped

The latest deficit projections from the Congressional Budget Office forecast a sea of red ink that will only deepen under plans to jump-start the economy with tax cuts and government spending.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Published: January 21, 2008

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a funeral tent Monday in a predominantly Sunni village, killing at least 14 people and wounding 17.

Tags: reality check, bush, democrats, big buisness, oil, iraq, environment, global warming, tax cuts

McCain’s Costly Tax On Energy

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:44:31 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: What do John McCain, Environmental Defense, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Pew Center on Climate Change have in common? They have united to support a massive new tax increase on energy

The real surprise is that in a Republican primary in which Senator McCain’s anti-tax credentials are in question, none of his opponents have even mentioned his advocacy of this new broad-based energy tax. I will leave it to political pundits to speculate on the reasons why.

But if it is thought that the climate change benefits will be worth these significant new costs on consumers and producers — think again. Over the next 100 years, the CO2 reductions from the tax will result in a temperature change that even its proponents concede, is so small as to be virtually undetectable by current technologies.

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

I suspect that many who would be significantly harmed by McCain’s wrongheaded tax plan — say, blue-collar workers in Michigan — have never heard of it. The Arizona senator’s position on federal tax cuts is better known. Nearly all of his opponents in the presidential campaign have criticized him for voting against both of President Bush’s tax-reduction plans. What is not widely understood is that he is currently sponsoring legislation that, in the name of fighting global warming, would dramatically raise the tax on all carbon-based fuels, including gasoline, home heating oil, coal, and to a lesser extent, natural gas.

Higher energy costs will, among other things, raise the cost of manufacturing big-ticket items in American factories. And higher gas prices will likely raise demand for those classes of automobiles that tend to be manufactured overseas. Somehow, I think Michigan voters will be less than thrilled about this, should anyone bother to inform them.

Tags: mccain, lieberman, massive tax increase, co2, global warming, environmental defense, manufacturers, automobiles, michigan

Truth in Global Warming

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:27:15 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.opinionjournal.com

This week's prize for honest liberalism goes to Michigan's John Dingell, who is having fun with his fellow Democrats while also making a useful point about the politics of global warming. The venerable Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee--first elected in 1955--has announced that he plans to introduce as early as this week a new tax on carbon emissions.

Mr. Dingell knows all this. His point is to force his colleagues--and the voters--to be more honest about the cost of their global-warming posturing. It's one thing to pay 100 bucks to hear Madonna at the "Live Earth" concert, or impress your girlfriend by wearing an "I reduced my carbon footprint" T-shirt. It's quite another to accept that energy prices would have to rise by many multiples to make even a degree's worth of difference to the world's climate. "I sincerely doubt that the American people will be willing to pay what this is really going to cost them," Mr. Dingell said on C-SPAN last week.

Tags: climate change, democrats, alarmism, taxes

Five Myths About The LW Global Warming Legislation

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 09:02:38 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: For example, the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report estimates 7 to 23 inches of sea level rise by the end of the century--far less than the widely popularized claims of 18 to 20 feet and little more than ongoing trends over the past several centuries.

Myth #4: LW effectively addresses the threat of climate change.

Fact: Even assuming the worst of global warming, LW reduces the threat by a minuscule amount. The bill reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the United States only. China has overtaken America as the world's largest emitter, and its emissions growth is several times greater than that of the U.S. India and other fast-developing nations are on a similar trajectory. Thus, the unilateral impact of the bill on global emissions would be inconsequential. At most, it would reduce the earth's future temperature by one or two tenths of a degree Celsius--too small to even verify.

Clip Source: www.heritage.org

On June 2, the United States Senate will begin debate on America's Climate Security Act (S. 2191), sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA). The Lieberman-Warner bill (LW) would restrict energy use to combat global warming.

Myth #1: LW would not be expensive.

Fact: Simply put, LW works like a massive energy tax. By restricting carbon dioxide emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas--with a freeze at 2005 levels beginning in 2012, to a 70 percent reduction in 2050--the bill forces down supply and thus boosts the price of energy

Myth #2: The costs fall on industry, not consumers.

Fact: Virtually all the burden imposed by LW falls upon consumers. The bill will spur net job losses well into the hundreds of thousands, and possibly nearing one million

[Video]

Myth #3: Global warming is a crisis that must be addressed at all costs.

Fact: Global warming is a concern, not a crisis. Both the seriousness and the imminence of the threat are overstated

Tags: energy, global warming, co2, massive energy tax, job loss

Green taxes 'are making billions'

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:09:50 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The government is raising billions of pounds more in green taxes than it needs to remove the UK's "carbon footprint",

The Taxpayers' Alliance said emissions in 2005 had done damage worth an estimated £11.7bn, but green taxes and charges in that year had made £21.9bn.

Every household is paying more than £400 extra in tax every year because green taxes are set too high

It claimed ministers were "cynically" raising revenue rather than using the money to improve the environment.

The group also said that, on average, UK households were "over-paying" £400 a year.

Fuel duty and vehicle excise duty were between 30 and 40 times higher than the level needed to cover estimates of the social cost of CO2 emissions.

Tags: environment, global warming

Earth Near Tipping Point, Climatologist Warns

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:56:34 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: What to do, what to do? That's the question for the average citizen. Do we just inore this brilliant man or get leaders who will listen and act?
During a speech at the National Press Club, he rambled, as if his ideas were sprinting well ahead of his words, but he kept an overflow ballroom audience rapt.

Already, he said, the world’s safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide has been exceeded.

Yet, in the 20 years since he first testified, no major U.S. law restricting greenhouse gas emissions has been passed, 21 new coal-fired generating units have been built at power plants in this country and total U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide have climbed by about 18 per cent.
He also accused corporate America of a “greenwash” in which their environmentally friendly words are not backed by actions and he supported criminal charges against CEOs of corporations such as ExxonMobil who are smart enough to know the situation but are intent on continuing their fossil fuel ways.

“When their d

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

WASHINGTON-James Hansen returned to Capitol Hill a hero yesterday, but certainly not a conquering hero.

The soft-spoken scientist, hailed as the “whistle-blower for the planet,” tried to quiet a standing ovation from environmentalists here with a typically blunt admonition.

“It is not a time to celebrate,” said Hansen, 20 years to the day since he became the first leading scientist to warn of the dangers of global warming before a congressional committee.

He returned not to bask in any adulation, but to warn that the Earth is nearing a tipping point, to call for a national carbon tax and to say that CEOs of energy companies may be guilty of crimes against humanity and nature.

On June 23, 1988, by most accounts, the temperature in the committee room hovered at 38C and the U.S. was in the midst of a historic drought when Hansen told a Senate committee he was “99 per cent certain” that humans were warming the global climate.

“We have reached a point of planetary emergency,” he said.

Bring A Lot Of Shovels

Wed, 21 May 2008 10:00:09 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: If we don’t fix our political system and start thinking strategically about how to improve our competitiveness, he added, “the U.S. risks having its unique and advantageous position in the world erode as other countries rise.”

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

There has been much debate in this campaign about which of our enemies the next U.S. president should deign to talk to. The real story, the next president may discover, though, is how few countries are waiting around for us to call. It is hard to remember a time when more shifts in the global balance of power are happening at once — with so few in America’s favor.

It baffles me that President Bush would rather go to Saudi Arabia twice in four months and beg the Saudi king for an oil price break than ask the American people to drive 55 miles an hour, buy more fuel-efficient cars or accept a carbon tax or gasoline tax that might actually help free us from, what he called, our “addiction to oil.”

What the next president should say

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:14:25 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Of course that would take someone possessing a spine.

Clip Source: gristmill.grist.org

What the next president should say

The era of cheap energy is over. We will never again see cheap gas, and we can expect the price of electricity to rise inexorably.

In order for the United States to survive, we need to rebuild our energy infrastructure.

To reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, we need to implement a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system. This is a national security issue.

In order for the United States to survive, we need to rebuild our energy infrastructure.

To reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, we need to implement a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system. This is a national security issue.

We need a Manhattan-style government-funded project to develop new forms of renewable energy. We should be spending several tens of billions of dollars every year on this research.

Increased drilling or unconventional sources of fuel, like oil shale or tar sands, will provide so little fuel that they are simply not worth doing.

France slaps penalties on gas-guzzling cars

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:23:10 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: I don't often get to say clever policy making.

Clip Source: www.spacemart.com

From January 1, any driver who buys a new car emitting more than 160 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre (just over half a mile) will be charged a once-off penalty of up to 2,600 euros (3,800 dollars).

Penalties will start at 200 euros, rising to 750 for emissions above 166 grams, and 1,600 euros above 200 grams. The top tax bracket is set to concern one percent of all cars, those spewing out more than 250 grams of carbon dioxide,

Penalties are expected to apply to around a quarter of all new car sales, while around 30 percent of buyers would qualify for a bonus based on current new car sales.

Designed to steer drivers towards cleaner transport, the scheme will pay for itself, the ministry said, with the levy on polluters used to pay out bonuses for the rest.

Emissions limits will be toughened every two years, by five grams each time, to encourage manufacturers to keep developing cleaner cars.

Tags: environment, i-climate change, i-taxation, i-policy, business, autos, i-emissions, i-decrease

Goal of global warming hype

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:57:25 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: epw.senate.gov

A global tax on carbon dioxide emissions was urged to help save the Earth from catastrophic man-made global warming at the United Nations climate conference

“Finally someone will pay for these [climate related] costs,” Othmar Schwank, a global tax advocate

Schwank said at least “$10-$40 billion dollars per year” could be generated by the tax, and wealthy nations like the U.S. would bear the biggest burden based on the “polluters pay principle.”

The U.S. and other wealthy nations need to “contribute significantly more to this global fund,” Schwank explained. He also added, “It is very essential to tax coal.”

The report stated there was an “urgent need” for a global tax

“A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources,” said Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth.

MIT climate scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen warned

"Controlling carbon is a bureaucrat's dream. If you control carbon, you control life,"

Tags: global warming, climate change, religion, politics, tax, taxes, money, fraud

Taxation without representation

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:53:16 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.ibdeditorials.com

a panel at the IPCC conference titled "A Global CO2 Tax" took a step that will have a more lasting impact than an empty agreement. It urged the U.N. to adopt taxes on carbon dioxide emissions that would be "legally binding to all nations."

the tax, if levied, would put an especially high burden on the U.S.

The driving force of the environmental movement is not a cleaner planet

but a leftist, egalitarian urge to redistribute wealth.

"A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources," Emma Brindal

redistribution would be handled by the Multilateral Adaptation Fund

there would be few if any limits on the U.N.'s ability to move riches from countries that have created and earned them to those that have done neither.

Still think this is all about halting climate change? We would go as far as to say that anyone who does is either naive or a dupe. Both the rhetoric and the behavior of the eco-activists back us up.

Tags: global warming, climate change, taxes, un, politics, religion, science, wealth, socialism

The High Cost of McCarbonomics

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:17:32 GMT

clipped by: amgumen
clipper's remarks: McCain's plan amounts to nothing less but stealing from taxpayers to buy political love from ZEV automakers with little or no reduction in CO2 emissions.

Clip Source: us.mc540.mail.yahoo.com

The presumed Republican nominee is proposing a $300 million government prize to whoever can develop an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology... In addition, a so-called Clean Car Challenge would provide U.S. automakers with a $5,000 tax credit for every zero-carbon emissions car they develop and sell."

McCain's $5,000 tax credit for each zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) sold is ridiculous

1. Based on the average automobile's annual CO2 emissions (6 tons) and the average life of a car (9 years), this works out to taxpayers forking out $5,000 to avoid 54 tons of tailpipe emissions -- that is, $92.60 per ton of CO2. In comparison, a metric ton of CO2 only cost about $5.80 on the Chicago Climate Exchage as of Friday, June 20.

While no CO2 is emitted from a ZEV per se, the emissions are merely shifted from the tailpipe to the smokestack at the power plant that generated the electricity

Volcano Releases One Trillion Cow Farts Into Atmosphere

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:40:59 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: "It takes more than a volcano to stop our opposition to the threat presented by industrial production and free markets to the ideas of global government and central planning," said Mr. Pachauri. "If we don't act soon, my children may never be able to chair an intergovernmental panel, control the economy, and distribute production quotas. The hardest hit will be Third-World dictatorships that are contributing disproportionately more money to our members and their families.The stand against economic development and free enterprise has become an urgent global issue - a moral issue if you will - that affects the survival of all endangered intergovernmental agencies."

A separate chapter calls for a volcano tax on the worst offenders starting with Chile - with a footnote explaining that if the Chileans hadn't disposed of the Marxist regime of Salvatore Allende in 1971, the whole issue could've been avoided because they wouldn't be anywhere near the list of developed nations today.

Clip Source: thepeoplescube.com

The UN already had a climate agency dedicated to capping the catastrophic spread of technology and free enterprise when scientists discovered that cow farts presented an even greater danger to life on earth than man-made machines. It was only logical that the UN urgently created a new authoritative agency dedicated to capping cow farts and other related phenomena that posed a threat to the survival of the United Nations.

The IPCF, a UN-sponsored organization tasked to evaluate the insoluble problem that threatens to end their careers, is not easily swayed by just one volcano eruption.

The IPCF does not carry out research, nor does it monitor cow farts. The main activity of the IPCF is publishing special reports on topics relevant to cow farts, in order to raise awareness about the potentially catastrophic effects of industrial development, self-reliance, and capitalist prosperity on the existence of various intergovernmental panels within the framework of the United Nations.

Tags: u.n., greenhouse gases, carbon credits, kyoto