Wednesday, March 20, 2019

The make shit up theory of GND

The argument that Broome put forward (following work by Duncan Foley) is that measures to tackle climate change can be funded by issuing debt. This breaks the polluter pays principle, but it can still lead everyone to be better off (what economists call a Pareto improvement). If government debt rather than taxes are increased to pay for, for example, investment in greener infrastructure the current generation gets away with not having to pay. If future generations have to pay back the debt used to pay for these measures, that cost falls on them, but it is more than matched by the benefits to them because of the climate change avoided as a result. In other words if you cannot make the polluter pay, it is still better to take action to stop climate change even if future generations have to pay the cost of that action.
This is Mr. Lewis making up some fantasy about the future so he can continue melting ice today. 

He misses a key point about Econ 101, supply and demand.  We have people who demand the right to pollute and people who supply the right to pollute, he neglects the later.  Naturally his solution has government melting ice for his favorite programs, the person who want to conserve CO2 pollution is ignored, the typical one sided fraud.

So, I have a message for Lewis. If my government is taking my ice so some government program can melt it instead, then I will sue my government for CO2 pollution which is harming me.  Mr. Lewis and his make shit up has no basis in court, no evidence, and will be tossed.

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