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I have a shocking proposal that may seem too good to be true: 1) Stop subsidizing fossil fuels. [0] 2) Tax carbon emissions. Bonus: 3) Incentivize clean ene
by doggosphere 5y ago
I have a shocking proposal that may seem too good to be true:
1) Stop subsidizing fossil fuels. [0]
2) Tax carbon emissions.
Bonus:
3) Incentivize clean energy.
[0]: https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs#1 https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subs...
- hannob 5y agoGreat idea. Not gonna happen quickly, particularly worldwide. So now what do we do about Bitcoin in the meantime?
- gruez 5y agoPerpetually being stuck in a cycle of implementing politically expedient but half-assed measures? See also: "oh no, there's too much plastic! let's uh... ban plastic straws!"
- ixacto 5y agoMore like perpetually being stuck in a cycle of voter appeasement to get re-elected because they are “doing something”...
- vanusa 5y agoSo now what do we do about Bitcoin in the meantime? Exactly as the commenter above proposes: "Change the subject"
- paul_f 5y agoNot sure why the downvotes. It is not realistic for every country in the world to pass an equivalent carbon tax. The mining will just move to he locations with no (or lowest) carbon tax
- carlob 5y ago> 2) Tax carbon emissions. Progressively. Not a detail at all.
- swiley 5y agoProgressive taxes on carbon emissions will discourage economies of scale. This means for the same amount of co2 produced you have less production (good things for society) which is pretty bad. Ideally the co2 should be taxed at exactly the cost to reduce it to an easily stored or safe molecule.
- gruez 5y agoAFAIK Canada does this by giving everyone a fixed amount of tax credit to offset the tax. That way poor people aren't taxed more but everyone are still incentivized to reduce their emissions
- cortesoft 5y agoThe best way is to take all the carbon tax collected, divide it by the number of people in the country, and distribute it evenly to everyone. That way, if you use less than the average amount of carbon, you actually make money.
- SECProto 5y agoThat's essentially what Canada has done, except on a subnational level (as it only applies in individual provinces that don't have their own emissions reduction mechanisms with at least equivalent effects)
- eyeball 5y agoPoor people will still pay in the form of higher prices that bake in the coat of the carbon tax.
- doggosphere 5y agoPoor people are also the most exposed and suffer the most from carbon emissions.
- swiley 5y agoYup, this would ensure the benefits of bitcoin mining would not outweigh the costs, and it would make most of it unprofitable. One great thing about crypto mining is that it makes unsustainable subsidies very obvious.
- DennisP 5y agoThe difficulty adjustment would just make it a little easier to mine bitcoins, so miners would spend the same money. But at least they'd be using clean energy if the carbon tax were high enough.
- ixacto 5y agoThis would give an advantage to Bitcoin miners in 3rd world countries where carbon credits and other fanciful notions are optional. We [the developed world] would be outsourcing our Bitcoin pollution to these 3rd world countries and also contributing to “environmental racism” or whatever the left is calling it these days.
- kogo55 5y agoExactly. We need to ban, and aggressively prosecute the use of crypto to prevent this. Useful side-effect: reduction of ransomware attacks.
- cyphertruck 5y agoThat has worked terrible with the war in drugs. How do you think its going to work when no smuggling us required and anyone with a solar panel and a satellite dish can mine?
- swiley 5y agoYou're going to have to find a different way to deal with that. Without completely changing the way the US government and justice system works I don't think that's possible.
- vladmk 5y agoI don’t know about banning crypto to stop ransomware attacks, if we followed that train of thought we shouldn’t even have an internet where people can steal personal information.
- cyphertruck 5y agoIf you tax all CO2 emissions you will not “incentivize clean energy” because “clean energy” produces more CO2 emissions. You will incentivize nuclear, though, which is the cleanest energy. A much more efficient way to do that, though, would be to simply cut the science denying red tape.
- aaomidi 5y agoAnd Legalize drugs so crypto market dies off.
- verdverm 5y agoDrugs are not the primary use case any more (if ever), time to move beyond that talking point to something credible. There are other good reasons to legalize drugs
- louthy 5y ago> Drugs are not the primary use case any more (if ever), time to move beyond that talking point to something credible If you’re willing to dismiss the argument so vehemently, then it would also be good to follow up with a justification for your dismissal.
- parineum 5y agoAside from pure speculation, which is fine by me, I really don't know what else they're used for significantly. What goods or services are regularly purchased in crypto?
- hannob 5y agoRansomware is the other big area where bitcoin is used for payment.
- verdverm 5y agoThis I suspect is a large(st) use case, also NK (others?) may be using it to circumvent sanctions.
- cyphertruck 5y agoBitcoin was as created to resist censorship— hence Wikileaks was able to raise money after visa et al banned them. It was created to resist debasement- as a result it maintains its value as inflation ramps up. Thus you would actually not want to buy things with bitcoin, and instead spend rapidly depreciating USD.
- Tepix 5y ago> 1) Stop subsidizing fossil fuels. This should include kerosine for flights.
- emerged 5y agoI’m afraid this would just further incentivize mining in countries who don’t have such taxes. Further centralizing Bitcoin and shifting the energy production to places who are even worse environmental abusers.