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No one owned the process by which the oil was produced. We don't need to bring in leaky concepts of rights here. It is a plain fact that the Earth has a resour

No one owned the process by which the oil was produced. We don't need to bring in leaky concepts of rights here. It is a plain fact that the Earth has a resource which was formed before humanity even existed, is limited, and the price of which is not reflective of the process required to create it. It is also a plain fact that using said resource unwisely hampers fellow and future citizens. Buying a cart full of apples and flushing them is also unwise, but at least the price of an apple is somewhat reflective of the cost of producing one. A carbon tax helps bring the price of oil up to at least be closer to its real value, and help prevent unwise ways of utilizing it.

mbrumlow 7y ago
> using said resource unwisely > prevent unwise ways of utilizing Who are you to decide what is wise or unwisely use of oil? How do you know the carbon tax does not unjustly affect the ability for those with lesser means to use it today and as a result kill off entire peoples who would have existed otherwise -- talking about hampering future citizens. The entire notion of limiting use of it because it is going to run out is silly because it will still run out. It does not matter if it runs out 100 years from now, or 200 years from now or 1000 years from now. It is still going to run out. You want to trade the freedoms of today for the idea of "freedom" tomorrow. You have no data or proof to suggest that how it is being used today vs how it will be used by future peoples will be better or worse. All you are doing now is raising the price artificially and hampering current citizens -- which I argue are more important than any future ones you can image. > A carbon tax helps bring the price of oil up to at least be closer to its real value. Value is subjective. 1000 years ago oil was worthless, and when found was often considered unwanted. The price of oil will change as its value changes over time. We could have had different events that caused us to never discover the use of oil and thus it would be valueless to us today.

mbrumlow 7y ago

> using said resource unwisely > prevent unwise ways of utilizing Who are you to decide what is wise or unwisely use of oil? How do you know the carbon tax does not unjustly affect the ability for those with lesser means to use it today and as a result kill off entire peoples who would have existed otherwise -- talking about hampering future citizens. The entire notion of limiting use of it because it is going to run out is silly because it will still run out. It does not matter if it runs out 100 years from now, or 200 years from now or 1000 years from now. It is still going to run out. You want to trade the freedoms of today for the idea of "freedom" tomorrow. You have no data or proof to suggest that how it is being used today vs how it will be used by future peoples will be better or worse. All you are doing now is raising the price artificially and hampering current citizens -- which I argue are more important than any future ones you can image. > A carbon tax helps bring the price of oil up to at least be closer to its real value. Value is subjective. 1000 years ago oil was worthless, and when found was often considered unwanted. The price of oil will change as its value changes over time. We could have had different events that caused us to never discover the use of oil and thus it would be valueless to us today.