Gone also, apparently, are discussions about cutting fossil fuel subsidies that have featured at previous G20 meetings (a new report finds G20 countries are subsidizing exploration for coal, oil and gas to the tune of US$88 billion a year – between $2.9 billion and $3.5 billion from Australia).
I wonder if there's any correlation between while they were moving ahead, the rest of the government was subsidizing more and more people and disincentivizing them.
There is little justification for subsidizing sociology, dance and English majors.As a consequence, Mr Tabarrok thinks that "the taxpayers who foot the bill for these subsidies" are being ill used.I think Mr Tabarrok gets a good deal wrong here.
If government stopped subsidizing fossil fuels, stopped protecting oil supplies using military means and instead funneled these monies into sustainable fuel projects, wouldn't the price of gas and oil rise sharply?
He goes on The consequences of this policy are also stark and simple: in effect, China is taxing imports while subsidizing exports, feeding a huge trade surplus.
GREG MANKIW quotes from a Wall Street Journal piece by Holman Jenkins on the virtues of a petrol tax relative to subsidies for electric and hybrid cars:Even if you believe saving gasoline is a holy cause, subsidizing electric cars simply is not a substitute for politicians finding the courage to jack up gas prices.
By subsidizing new capital injections, they reward bad porfolio choices by the existing shareholders.
By subsidizing schooling, the government can reduce unemployment levels now and raise American productivity in the long run.Like appropriate spending on infrastructure, the plan serves as a short-term stimulus and long-term productivity booster.
In any case, Ms McArdle concludes by calling for more direct government subsidies for clean energy:[I]f we're not really filling a gap in the capital market, this is a terrible way to go about subsidizing clean energy.
We should be subsidizing the outcome we want: more solar panels installed, more clean vehicles purchased.
They send their children to the military not just because it's an opportunity, but because they have a value system from the farm: They have to give something back to the land that sustains them.Mr Klein follows up sanely:It sounds to me like the policy you're suggesting here is to subsidize the military by subsidizing rural America.
