I would love if we could use this crisis to get investment in renewables and EVs/batteries.
I could see Congress passing an emergency subsidy before the election if gas stays above $4 especially if it rises above $5. I would hope we can spend an equal amount or more for longer term 'green' investment, regardless of what happens.
IMHO we do need those high prices to discourage driving. It is after all probably closer to the true cost with externalities of global warming. Could spur more investment in renewables too if done right.
BUT would need to help lower earners during transition or will just get pummeled in the election and Republicans will do the opposite of what's needed on climate.
I personally think most equitable solution would probably be raise corporate rate back up a bit + on very high earners/get rid of some wealthy deductions.
Then do something akin to the child tax credit mailed out each month for maybe <50k households. An energy credit. Scale up slightly if have a bunch of kids.
Maybe 20$/gallon would be what it takes for a quick transition?
And yes it's not even that high relatively! I would love to see an analysis taking into account cost of global warming just that we are already feeling.
I read an article earlier today analyzing cost per mile driven in real dollars.
We're actually a good amount lower than 2007 recession. And way lower than 80s.
But people don't see that. They see $5 and $80 to fill up a giant pickup truck.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-price-of-gasoline-isnt...
Ah there we go, you’re trying for “progress” despite the economy limping along right now. Kick them while they’re down ey?
> IMHO we do need those high prices to discourage driving. It is after all probably closer to the true cost with externalities of global warming. Could spur more investment in renewables too if done right.
And you believe the right time to do this is when we have record inflation?
Also gas is hitting $6+ a gallon where I’m at.
Are corner stores really illegal in the US? I could not find anything on the topic from a quick search
The older style with business on ground level and residential above that isn't as profitable for developers and so isn't made as much. Cities, in bowing to demands of developers likewise zone for single family residential and it is thus illegal to build a commercial spot (other than the strip mall along one of the busier roads - that you need to drive to).
it's not like those metals are _only_ found in Russia. The upfront capital expense of opening new mines somewhere else is high, so doesn't make economic sense when Russia has already made this investment in the USSR era, and can pump it out cheap(er) now.
But if the need arises, other sources of such metals can be acquired in the medium to long term. Same can be said for the rare earths from China.
Usually such conclusions are a good time to Google and better educate yourself on the problem domain and solution space.
This wouldn’t have made economic sense to an economist because the goals here weren’t entirely economic. Yet it built a giant economy.
>- People find substitutes.
>- People with stockpiles of the good sell it. If price controls were in effect, they would hoard it instead.
This is only true when reduced consumption is possible, when substitutes are available, and when sufficient stockpiles exist to be sold.
If my only driving consists of the 20 miles I drive to work every day, I don't have the option to reduce my consumption if I want to pay my bills and keep from becoming homeless. If there is no mass transit and no opportunity to carpool, there is no substitute. Stockpiles of oil are generally insignificant when compared to overall consumption (which is why releasing oil from the strategic energy reserve is more of a pr move than something which has a substantive or lasting impact on prices).
The fact is that most of the US has been designed for people with cars. Outside of a very few cities mass transit is extremely limited or non-existent.
Dentists have an excellent track record when it comes to predicting tooth decay and treating decayed teeth. Economists have a terrible track record when it comes to predicting economic activity and prescribing sustainable solutions to economic problems that arise.
This language seems unnecessary, given the rest of your comment is very unclear and unexplained.
The last 23 years there's been a war to kill the general computer.
https://www.theregister.com/2001/12/13/the_microsoft_secure_...
>This language seems unnecessary,
It's not, the average gamer and PC buyer has been stealing software from himself for the last 23+ years. Straight, steam/mmo's are just back ended c applications, there's no reason for any piece of software to require a "internet connection" (aka a second computer) half a world away.
The 1990's were great because it was before the computer illiterate got internet. Everyone was expecting level editors and free maps, mods and skins
Level editors
https://icculus.org/gtkradiant/
Free maps mods and skins
... to continue in all the big budget games but that didn't happen because the computer illiterate masses gave up game ownership giving birth to all the evils of modern gaming (shut down games, mtx, always online drm, which is the same as mmo's, aka client-server back ended c apps). So we're losing game history down the shitter and games just disappear from history because stupid got internet.
Pub g and Apex, are just back ended quake 3 and UT2004, minus game ownership.
When the computer illiterate started buying MMO's (which were just rebranded rpg's with stolen networking code), the game industry started stealing PC games on a massive scale, notice how Transformers fall of cybertron a game from 2014, doesn't have basic features like dedicated servers and server lists like every fps from 1996-2004. (aka pre-steam, pre-mmo).
Once game developers realized gamers were stupid in 1997, there was a war on on local applications.
Don't think so? Don't think mmo's killed quake 1-3 and warcraft 1-3?
See here the ultima dev's themselves:
https://youtu.be/lnnsDi7Sxq0?t=1134
Ultima 9 was cancelled for the scam game ultima online, so there was no ultima 10, ultima 11, ultima 12, with dedicated servers and level editors. So we didn't get the awesome future of PC gaming, we got the computer illiterate dumbass future that undid the personal computer revolution taking us back to mainframe computing of the 60's and the average gamer is unaware of it.
Everyone was expecting diablo 2+ to have server browsers and level editing and huge modding, that never happened because they started stealing RPG's and rebranding them mmo's and just started back ending the shit out of every PC game, once they realized the public was stupid as fuck at computers.
Don't think so? We already had infinite multiplayer game sin the 90's with quake 2, until the shit for brains who bought UO and everquest fucked up the future of the personal computer and gaming more generally, taking us back to mainframe computing of the 60's.
"No limit to the # of players - JC, quake 2
https://youtu.be/TfeSMaztDVc?t=95
We could take quake 2 engine an clone all "MMO's and have those same games run locally with ability to host multiplayer from your machine with no logins, subscription fees.
If you have to infinity multiplayer videogames, one allows you to own it and costs $60, and the other has an upfront costs + sub.... guess who got swindled?
> the computer illiterate masses gave up game ownership giving birth to all the evils of modern gaming
It’s really hard to take you seriously with your constant berating of normal people.
- People reduce their consumption of that good.
- People find substitutes.
- People with stockpiles of the good sell it. If price controls were in effect, they would hoard it instead.
- On a longer time scale, people start producing more of the good. They pay workers overtime to work more shifts, buy/build more equipment, and so on.
Economist Michael Munger wrote an article titled They Clapped: Can Price-Gouging Laws Prohibit Scarcity? which explains the problems with price controls, even in times of disaster.[1]
1. https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2007/Mungergouging....