> All of this seems ripe for playing number games. Now you're getting it. It step 1 of the con. In a con the first thing you do is shut down the mark's reason

> All of this seems ripe for playing number games. Now you're getting it. It step 1 of the con. In a con the first thing you do is shut down the mark's reasoning by overwhelming it with an appeal to strong emotion, usually greed or fear. i.e. "We've been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty, if you don't call now you're car will no longer be covered." Next you offer a solution to the problem, if you do a good job with the first part the mark will be more focused on either 1) Getting a big payout or 2) Avoiding bad consequences, next you offer them a solution to the problem. If you are really good you'll hint at it and then pull back "Listen I've got this deal, actually never mind I don't think you'd be a good fit." this is the setting the hook. Finally you ask for the payment, with their logic shortcircuted the mark will then give you whatever you ask because they want relief bad. What does this have to do with the parent comment? He points out how easy it is to play number games with the things being defined here. This is because the groundwork is being laid for step 2, where the solution of "carbon capture credits" will be introduced. And before everyone starts angrily downvoting, I'll point out that I'm not saying climate change isn't a problem or that we need to do something about it. I'm saying that the same people in congress who are flying around in private jets and authorizing massive pork payments may not be solely motivated by a selfless desire to save the world and may be a little bit more interested in enriching themselves. But of course we all know politicians are flawless paragons of virute, except for those evil {conservatives|liberals|republicans|democrats|MAGAs|wokies|etc...} Before you downvote me, I'm going to ask you to take just a minute though and think, isn't a carbon tax a much more effective solution then setting some arbitrary goals, wouldn't it change actual behavior and provide better funding for further action? Stop and think did you reach to downvote me because you felt a strong emotional reaction when you thought I might be anti-climate change? Do you feel if we don't take immediate action right now we'll be doomed? Just saying cons are all about overwhelming the mark with fear and greed.... P.S Start to look for the pattern in the rest of life, it makes things interesting...