Komentarji za Pigou Club

Komentarji prispevka The Pigou Club Manifesto – Reloaded avtorja Henry Cobb

Henry Cobb — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:48:53 +0000

All taxes are regressive.

Here in California we get comments like:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold29feb29,0,7077830.story
Coupal said rolling back tax credits and other deductions would raise tax bills for millions of Californians. It has the same effect as a broad-based tax hike, he said.

The wealthy benefit most from a complex tax system, because they can afford to deal with it.

The existence of the Alternative Minimum Tax is a stark admission of failure. It says that the Congress does not understand the monster it has created.

So stop taxing money. Switch to taxation on things that exist and can be monitored and tax them at the marginal level of harm. All of this game playing on the tax system will then switch to effort on cleaning up the world.

Yes, I want to exploit the wealthy. I want to exploit the amazing amount of effort they put into tax evasion into making a better world.

Do you blame me?

Komentarji prispevka NY Times Editorial avtorja Henry Cobb

Henry Cobb — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:22:05 +0000

Phase out the income tax as you phase in the Pollution Added Tax.

Just make a 5% adjustment in both for the next 20 years and industry will have time to adjust and keep ahead of the curve.

And best of all you can respond to the “high tax” question by pointing to an income tax of zero.

-HJC

Komentarji prispevka Pigou Club Debunked avtorja Robert

Robert — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:32:48 +0000

I think the example above should be looked into more carefully. Too many people today assume they know about the automobile industry’s methods of production, but in this case many are misgiven. To fully understand the depth and breadth of any particular product’s impact on the environment, we have to look not only to the finished product, but also to the production process. While the Toyota Prius get an extremely efficient gas usage rate, it is powered by batteries made in Canada out of nickel. This nickel plant in Canada is surrounded by barren land in all diretions; nothing can grow near it because of nickel’s environmentally volatile nature. When the cost of building and operating a Prius is totalled, its environmental footprint for its average expected working life far overshadows that of an H2 Hummer.

Komentarji prispevka Pigou Club Debunked avtorja Ken

Ken — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:29:34 +0000

I think in your example above, the market has already provided an alternative to the gasoline price problem.
However, we seen to scorn the abstract and the unquantifiable.
Why do people go out and buy fuel guzzling SUV’s when they could ‘rationally’ buy a great toyota prius ?
Are we missing the opportunity cost that social status and the joyful experience of driving an suv can afford us ?
Unfortunatelly we cant quantify this, so I’m really are not sure how much of a tax will make it worth buying the Prius.

Komentarji prispevka NoPigou Strikes Back avtorja James Mitchell Jensen II

James Mitchell Jensen II — Sun, 27 May 2007 07:02:58 +0000

> I am not convinced of â€œDeleterious Anthropogenic Warming of the Globe.â€?

How unconvinced are you? According to the Stern Report, the cost of continued warming will be 5% or more of the world’s GDP, while the cost of acting will be only 1%. Of course, that only measures tangible goods, so the overall cost will actually be greater.

So, unless I’m crazy (and I admit I’m not an economist by trade or degree), it seems that you need no more than a 1/5 = 20% confidence in the report’s figures before the expected cost of continued warming is greater than the expected cost of acting.

(Yes, that takes into consideration the case where warming will continue with or without human activity. I’ve done the math on this, and it actually cancels out.)

Komentarji prispevka Pigou Club Debunked avtorja JTM

JTM — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:46:00 +0000

Sounds like everyone should go BUY a New car that gets 30 miles per gallon??? Forget The People locked in to leases or long term purcases ,The half of the masses that don’t make a 6 figure salery that have to drive an older car that does get good milage because thats what they can aford to drive 40 miles to a job that makes $8.00 an hour (i’m in cali thats not alot)raise the tax > Until the price of doing the “right” thing is the same as doing what youve been doing it just wont happen

Komentarji prispevka If Pigou Club fails.. avtorja Antibush

Antibush — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:23:01 +0000

Watch subject. Bush goes ballistic about other countries being evil and dangerous, because they have weapons of mass destruction. But, he insists on building up even a more deadly supply of nuclear arms right here in the US. What do you think? Why has bush turned our country from a country of hope and prosperity to a country of belligerence and fear.
Our country is in debt until forever, we don’t have jobs, and we live in fear. We have invaded a country and been responsible for thousands of deaths.
We have lost friends and influenced no one. No wonder most of the world thinks we suck. Thanks to what george bush has done to our country during the past three years, we do!

Komentarji prispevka David Friedman on Storms avtorja Susan Tupper

Susan Tupper — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:41:10 +0000

I think that unpredictability of the models was referenced by the author.

Komentarji prispevka David Friedman on Storms avtorja David Director Friedman

David Director Friedman — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 06:19:29 +0000

I agree that global warming might make hurricanes more likely; so far as I can tell, our models of climate are not good enough to predict such things with much confidence.

But the particular article I was responding to, and quoted in my piece, referred to “melting ice sheets that swell the oceans and turn that particular block of lower Manhattan into an aquarium.” So the claim was specifically about the effect of rising sea levels, not about other possible consequences of global warming.

Komentarji prispevka Another Look avtorja Michael Brown

Michael Brown — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:32:20 +0000

It would be a good idea to offset the new taxes by lowering the existing taxes.