re: #41 LudwigVanQuixote

That’s more serious than you latch on to. GOP economic theories have only gotten more crazy since then. Paul is in charge of the Fed for G-d’s sake.

Let’s get it clear, GOP pro business means making certain that pesky laws or mere morality do not get in the way of squeezing out that last cent of profit, this quarter, and fuck the future.

They gave us the SnL crisis, the largest deficits in our history, the Wall Street crash, Enron and a whole lot more.

Right now they are going to see how much more the environment can be utterly destroyed. They will have their profits and you will have less arable land and drinking water - but what economy has things like food and water at its base? Silly liberals think that you need those things to sustain a nation.

Conservatives need to consider a hard reset. Teddy Roosevelt’s ghost is going to haunt today’s crop. EVERY economy has food and water at its base. No food, no water, no economy.

Liberals would have better luck bringing wavering conservatives back from this insanity if they’d be more open to conservative-style approaches to liberal ends.

Say we want to limit CO2 emissions.

Fix 1: Ban breathing.
Fix 2: Ban the use of coal.
Fix 3: Ban the use of coal except when the government gives permission. Exceptions made on a case by case basis.
Fix 4: Ban the use of coal beyond a set quota, companies allowed to trade within that quota.
Fix 5: Tax the use of coal, and use the proceeds to fund general revenue.
Fix 6: Tax the use of coal, and use the proceeds to fund development of wind/solar/nuclear.
Fix 7: Tax the use of coal, and use the proceeds to reimburse consumers for the average extra cost they’d incur if they consumed an average amount of electricity. Those who used less would come out ahead; those who used more would come out behind.

Fix 1 is ridiculous, but it’s the liberal solution taken to its logical extreme. Fixes 2, 3, 4 are anathema to conservatives and not really very good approaches in any case. Assuming they could be implemented, which they can’t because conservatives have the votes to block them.
Fixes 5, 6, 7 are approaches that might be something conservatives could swallow.

To the extent that conservatives are reading this post, hear and believe: AGW is real. You do not want a series of crop failures. The four horsemen ride if it comes to that, and questions of tax rates and stock options become moot. You have got to grasp that above all else, the earth itself, with a climate that suits our species, must be conserved. Lose that and lose everything.

To the extent that liberals are reading this post, give a thought to this: accept any solution to AGW that conservatives will sign on to. Even if it’s not much of a fit for your wider agenda. The earth itself, with a climate that suits our species, must be conserved. Lose that, even if it’s mostly the fault of conservatives, and all is lost.