Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The unintended consequences of carbon rationing
The Environmental Audit Committee in the United Kingdom wants to institute a carbon ration to its citizens. Whatever business transaction that is used for a good or service that uses fossil fuel can only be purchased by a special carbon credit card. This would include gasoline, diesel, electricity, and flights and to do otherwise would be illegal (imagine the very act of purchasing a gallon of gas for your lawnmower to be a criminal act). Of course, the elitists have a way out: buy carbon rations from the poor via special carbon brokers. The politicians enacting this legislation, the ex-politicians spreading misinformation about global warming (I'm talking you Al), and the mentally challenged actors of the entertainment industry promoting the same attitude that leads to this intrusive bureaucracy. I can imagine it now. Those of the middle class forced to make the choice between moving away from the homes they lived in for generation because they can't afford the carbon rations to go to work and back or to give up their jobs and look for work closer to home even at the risk of a substantial pay cut. Where as once flight or even automobile ownership were once quite common is now regulated to the upper class widening the divide between the haves and have nots. The only ones to flourish in this system will be the rich who can afford to buy the carbon rations from the unwashed masses of hard-working formally middle class citizens, the carbon ration brokers making a profit off of other people's misery, and organized crime with the latest product to be sold on the black market: ordinary gasoline.
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2 comments:
Yeah, because giving more money (which is essentially what these carbon credits are; a secondary currency) to the poor ALWAYS benefits the rich.
Until you know what levels the carbon rationing will be on you can't predict the effects to the level you've tried to.
And if the carbon credits were expensive enough that someone middle class couldn't afford to drive to work, do you think the wealthy are going to be throwing them around like nothing? For your doomsday scenario they'd have to be like diamonds (in more ways than one) and in such a situation even the rich wouldn't be using them when they could help it.
Nothing the government gives is ever free is always paid for by either taxes, direct or indirect by taxing corporations that pass the price on to consumers, or by borrowed money that devalue the currency of a nation. And the rich will if they have millions to buy carbon credit from the poor who only have a few thousands per year while the middle class is left holding the bag, especially those in rural areas or small business owners.
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