> As much as I loved bouncy balls as an 80s kid, anytime I see them now it just reminds me of the sheer amount of useless plastic/rubber waste we produce.

They're not useless. As you've just pointed out you enjoyed them as a kid. For a few cents in plastic how many hours of enjoyment did you get? What was wasted here?

> after every parade it looks like a god damn war zone

Yea but when you stack up the tax receipts it suddenly looks very worthwhile.

> reality of past actions and be cognizant of our waste and abuse of the planet even if it was a fun time.

Humans are always going to want to have fun. From my point of view have all the plastic beads you want. It's the nuclear weapons and daily war that gives me pause.

>Yea but when you stack up the tax receipts it suddenly looks very worthwhile.

Bleak reminder that I will never jive with the general vibes of HN and the VC trash types polluting the world for a tax write-off.

I can understand your sentiment, but to be fair, he wasn't talking about write-offs, at least how I read it. He was talking about tax revenue generated by the production and sale of those "pollutants." Revenue generation via people paying taxes on things is kind of the opposite of write-offs.

Ah, I'm thinking of my local understanding that many of the Mardi Gras Krewe's have beads and other objects donated to them for tax write-offs for businesses, or they get the whole float sponsored, etc.

>tax revenue generated by the production and sale of those "pollutants."

The other local problem being from 1985 to 2024 Mardi Gras beads were sale tax exempt, but we've somewhat closed that loophole to more specific circumstances.[1]

[1]https://casetext.com/regulation/louisiana-administrative-cod...

It's a little bit of both actually. The point is when you draw in a massive crowd to a city for an event you generate huge amounts of taxes. Airport taxes, hotel taxes, sales taxes, they all take an appreciable jump. Even without the tax on beads, which as a percentage, was never going to be astronomical, it's around $15 million in sales tax increases alone.

The total economic value of Mardi Gras to the city as a whole is estimated around $800m.

This, by the way, is true for almost any successful event. For every $1 you invest you generate at least $2 in revenue.

Exactly, taxes on that fun is what supports food stamps and medicine for the poor, to the extent it is available.

People aren't buying beads simply because they exist or they have some sort of scripp arrangement that forces them to buy them. It's demand. You can suggest that your moralism requires everyone else to live by an austerity that you're comfortable with but this is flatly inhumane. There's only one bleak outlook here.