Yeah I was a big fan of Elon Musk, and then he says this. Ugh.
Tax never solved anything except letting politicians take your money for their own uses.
He's fallen for it.
Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
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Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#82Yeah I was a big fan of Elon Musk, and then he says this. Ugh. Tax never solved anything except letting politicians take your money for their own uses. He's fallen for it.
Are you joking? It is harder to find a tighter consensus among experts than the conclusion that a tax is the best policy to curb carbon emissions.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/03/12-taxing...
Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#83Not just a carbon tax, but a system of well thought out taxes that cover the negative externalities of every part of pollution so that the market can efficiently allocate investments. For example, most people don't know that coal causes more radiation damage to humans than nuclear. Why is this? Because coal gets released right into the atmosphere, while spent fuel rods get stored away from human contact. I know that…
> well thought out taxes that cover the negative externalities of every part of pollution so that the market can efficiently allocate investments
But it's not "the market" that decides how electricity is produced in a country, right? It's the government.
Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#84[deleted]
Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#85Not just a carbon tax, but a system of well thought out taxes that cover the negative externalities of every part of pollution so that the market can efficiently allocate investments. For example, most people don't know that coal causes more radiation damage to humans than nuclear. Why is this? Because coal gets released right into the atmosphere, while spent fuel rods get stored away from human contact. I know that…
> well thought out taxes that cover the negative externalities of every part of pollution so that the market can efficiently allocate investments But it's not "the market" that decides how electricity is produced in a country, right? It's the government.
Good point
Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#86I am worried. Even if we switch to other forms of energy, aren't we heating up the planet? Or do we expect it all to be radiated faster to space over time? http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/04/economist-meets-...
Oh god, that article, classic /r/badeconomics
No, we don't have to worry about heating up the planet from our energy use, the only major factor is the degree to which the atmosphere traps heat
Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#87[deleted]
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Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#88I used to think that carbon taxes were the way to go, but I have seen how effective the fossil fuel industry is at creating FUD. When you consider an effective carbon tax makes all their assets worthless it is not surprising that they will do whatever it takes to block anything other than a nominal carbon tax. There really is only one way to get past the fossil fuel industry and that is to buy them out. Given the ben…
Can you give us some explanatations about your text? What's a FUD? and a nominal carbon tax?
Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#89Not that I disagree (in fact I strongly agree), but is Musk really the person we should be taking this from? It's a bit like taking investment advice from your bank, meseems. Not necessarily a bad idea, but you might want to hear with people who don't have an active interest in the placement of your money first.
Obviously a carbon tax would benefit Musk, but the fact that he chose to start Tesla in the first place, when he already had more money than he could ever need, strongly suggests that he actually does care about climate change.
Re: Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World's Exit from Fossil Fuels
#90Another thing that would help is to stop subsidizing the fossil-fuel industry! The IMF estimates that about $5.3 trillion is spent annually subsidizing fossil fuel energy. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2015/NEW070215...