3 ms·
Oh my. AMS's point is that the market can't be moved more than a fraction of a percent if we yank subsidies. We could double our subsidies or 10x and it would
by VLM 10y ago
Oh my. AMS's point is that the market can't be moved more than a fraction of a percent if we yank subsidies. We could double our subsidies or 10x and it wouldn't matter, its just too small.
Now in SA, to keep the population calm and quiet, they subsidize petrol to be (well) under 1 Riyal per liter. Last time I checked a riyal was about an american quarter. So the subsidies are so incredible in SA that gasoline is less than a buck per gallon. At least last time I checked.
Now if we get rid of subsidies nothing will really change in the USA as the day to day noise level in prices and stuff is way higher than the tiny level we have. But if SA got rid of subsidies, I bet you could estimate the lifespan of the kingdom in hours. Minutes? It wouldn't last long.
Its very much like people arguing about American foreign aid spending and Americans think that foreign aid spending is like 20% of the federal budget whereas reality is its more like 1% and almost all of that 1% is sent to Israel and "the rest of the world" gets like 0.01% of the federal budget in aid.
Without subsidies the government in S.A. will fall.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago> Without subsidies the government in S.A. will fall. Would you agree its not a matter of if, but when the failure occurs?
- woodandsteel 10y agoThe point of labster's comment is that if oil were required to reflect its total cost to society, consumption would fall greatly. Do you really disagree?
- VLM 10y agoOh, that kind of made up subsidy. I was writing about the real ones. The problem with made up subsidies is they can be carried to content free absurdity. So providing election donation funds to a candidate opposing condom distribution in schools is a subsidy because it increases crude consumption for 75 years when a kid pops out and starts consuming.