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>an artificially propped up fossil fuel economy. You underestimate the demand for fossil fuels if you believe the economy is "artificially propped up".
by forgetsusername 10y ago
>an artificially propped up fossil fuel economy.
You underestimate the demand for fossil fuels if you believe the economy is "artificially propped up".
- m_mueller 10y agoWhat I mean is subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. We'd be doing a lot of progress if it were just sold at market value, and if the market price is below the cost of extraction/refinement/distribution, it would just not be pumped out.
- forgetsusername 10y ago>What I mean is subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. The nature of fossil fuel subsidies are tax breaks and unpaid externalities. As far as the former, basically irrelevant: global oil companies (and their employees) pay BILLIONS in taxes annually. We aren't handing them free money. There's a big difference between handing people money to burn, and giving a tax break to companies that, let's face it, are fundamental to national security infrastructure. Regarding the latter: we're working on it. The externalities aren't easy to pin down, and there is much argument over what the values should be.
- TheCoelacanth 10y agoIf Trump is going to make good on his promise to save coal, that will definitely involve artificially propping it up. Demand for oil is certainly stronger than demand for coal, but still much weaker than it was a few years ago.