random

(language alert!)

I've often wondered where total Morons get the 'subsidies' figures they claim for oil, coal and gas- figures which make absolutely NO sense. A recent example (don't ask me to find a comment made on an article on FB two weeks ago): That one particular oil company in British Columbia, Canada, receives $580 billion in subsidies.

I looked the company up. They bring in approximately $5 billion a year. Now, who the Fuck is stupid enough to believe that a company is being paid ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN TIMES their worth in subsidies?

Where does the Damned Dumb BullShit come from?

'how does the IMF get away with claiming that subsidies are 12-times higher than they are – and that the USA is one of the worst perpetrators? By subverting the definition of subsidies.

Criticizing countries like India and China (or Kiribati) for the $424 billion spent on real subsidies is unlikely to attract the attention of rich world elites. To implicate developed country governments and create outrage, the IMF adds everything that they believe should be included in the cost of fossil fuels, and say that by not including these costs in the price of fuel, countries are “subsidizing” fossil fuels.

So what’s included in this outsized re-definition? First, the IMF comes up with a price-tag of $2.3 trillion for air pollution. Burning coal is incredibly polluting, so the IMF claims coal is subsidized because it doesn’t pay for all the air pollution it causes.

It’s valid to consider the unpriced costs of any policy – but it’s wrong to call this a “subsidy”. And, it is the entirely wrong way to fix air pollution. We should not tax coal but tax coal pollution (along with any other pollution) — essentially forcing coal power to clean up its act. Doing so would cost less than a tenth of the IMF’s $2.3 trillion estimate.

The IMF calculates that China’s coal air pollution costs $720 billion per year. This is a vast exaggeration: two (https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aad138/meta) recent studies (https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215663) show China’s total air pollution costs $27-38 billion, or one-twentieth as much. And this is the cost for all air pollution, with another study (https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://www.healtheffects.org/system/files/GBDMAPS-ExecSummEnglishFinal.pdf) showing less than half can be blamed on coal. So, the IMF has claimed that coal air pollution is 40 times costlier than it is, and then mislabeled this as a “subsidy”.

Next, the IMF claims that gasoline and diesel-driven cars cause a huge amount of congestion and traffic accidents. Sure they do – but so do electric vehicles. This is an argument for congestion charges and better road design, safety measures and speed limit enforcement. The absurdity is revealed when we realize that according to this logic, governments could reduce their fossil fuel “subsidies” by building more roads.

The authors go on to claim that every nation should implement a consistent VAT across all products. Because they don’t, the IMF counts “missing” VAT in countries like the USA as a subsidy. Not only is this an even more bizarre definition of “subsidy”, but it suggests the IMF’s political views on taxation should overrule the decisions of democratically elected governments.

https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://www.forbes.com/sites/bjornlomborg/2020/01/17/the-imfs-huge-miscalculation-of-energy-subsidies/#1a4e28d4b425

'Scuse my language, please, but (yeah done)

btw: since 2010, subsidies to ostensible 'renewables' DWARF those paid to 'fossil fuel' companies https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/09/23/energy-subsidies-renewables-fossil-fuels/

Finally: Bjorn Lomborg, who wrote the above article, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT BELIEVES HUMANS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CURRENT CLIMATE CHANGE.

So if you come shrieking 'climate denier' I will boot your ass from my page.

Graduates, it's time to unlearn college

[...] The vast majority of graduation speakers are leftists and Democrats, predictably extolling diversity, globalism, identity politics, gender empowerment and – of course – climate change. Most graduates hungover and bored, absorb the platitudes. After the speech, a degree in hand, the indoctrination is complete. [...]
I simply want to highlight three stark realities that students and parents should know, rather than accept the onslaught of advice from liberals, leftists, and Democrats. A little common sense that otherwise gets missed in the mad rush to get a degree.

First, you just wasted a lot of time and money.
Plenty of students drift through four-year colleges because, well, that’s what you do. I did the same thing. Now you have a degree you didn’t really need, and mountains of debt to boot. A better option for many students is a non-ideological, private-sector vocational or trade school. Schools focused on specific skills that actually prepare you to get real jobs with great pay.

Predictably, Democrats want to destroy private-sector higher education in favor of their existing network of cash-machine indoctrination camps. Democrats are using a simple, but effective, playbook to destroy private sector higher education: define taxpaying colleges as evil, propose policies to restrict access to private career colleges and offer “free” public college to the masses as a solution. It’s false but sounds great. Nothing is free – you might not have learned that in Economics 101.

The mafia of higher education – just like government-run public high schools – seeks to demagogue and destroy all competing educational opportunities and choices. Our only option, at this level and every level of our education system, is to rebel. Start our own schools, advance for-profit colleges, homeschool our kids, and challenge the government-run, public-school orthodoxy.

Even the “good schools” with shiny new buildings and small classroom sizes are infected with liberal indoctrination. Assume nothing. Watchdog everything. Does your kid’s school say the Pledge of Allegiance? You probably don’t know (and don’t want to know). What holiday is more important at your kid’s school – Earth Day or Veterans Day? Or Presidents Day? Don’t even try to mention God – that could get you expelled. Public, government-run institutions are P.C. indoctrination camps. Our only hope is private sector schools and vigilant private citizens.

Second, most of what you just learned is garbage.
How much time during your education did you study civics, U.S. history, or the Constitution? Did you learn about how our founding generation viewed human nature and government, or just that they were slave owners? Did you ever study the Bible (the textbook of Western Civilization) – or just deconstruct academic skepticism about the life of Jesus? (The very Ivy League institutions founded on biblical education now loathe Christianity, must I say more).

Or, instead, were you required to take courses on gender studies, ethnic studies, and the lost art of underwater basket weaving? It’s not that we shouldn't study the plight of women and minorities in American history – of course, we should. The problem is that most students leave college (and middle school!) with a strong sense of America’s sins, and very little idea of why America is the freest, most fair, most tolerant, most just, most prosperous, and most powerful country in human history. The American “experiment” has worked…if we teach it.

The perfect example of the listlessness of higher education today comes from Harvard Law School – the so-called gold-standard of law schools. Law students who matriculate there are not required to take a class on…wait for it…the U.S. Constitution. We are now looking at a generation of high-powered lawyers who may or may not understand the greatest political document in human history. It’s lunacy, and very dangerous.

Finally, your real education starts now. No more safe spaces or trigger warnings. Your debt needs to be paid off, the world doesn’t care about your feelings, and your parents’ basement is embarrassing. You have your life in front of you – and a country that needs you. Get to work, follow your passions, and – if necessary – get the skills somewhere else that you actually need to achieve the American dream.
You may have wasted a lot of time and money in college, but so did everyone else. Now is the time to open up your Bible, pick up a history book, and get a job. History is not over, and you can choose to be a part of it. Toss your cap and gown in the garbage (you’ll never wear them again) and join the American experiment. We’re hiring: Patriots wanted!