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And Then There’s The Things You Couldn’t Even Make Up

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,


Marjory Collins Window of Jewish religious shop on Broome Street, New York Aug 1942

There are things in this world which simply look plain stupid, and then there are those that at closer examination prove to be way beyond stupid. How about this one:

1) G20 taxpayers (you, me) subsidize the fossil fuel industry. That in itself is crazy enough, and it should stop as per last week; industry participants must be able to fend for themselves, or fold. That they don’t, speaks to a very unhealthy level of power in and over our political systems. Subsidizing coal and oil is as insane as bailing out Wall Street banks. It’s money that defies gravity, by flowing from the bottom to the top, from the poor to the rich.

 

2) Then there’s the huge amount of the subsidies: $88 billion a year. That could solve a lot of misery for a lot of people. It adds up to well over $1 trillion in this century alone. Next time you feel good about prices at the pump, please add that number, it should set you straight.

 

3) But that’s just the start. Those $88 billion go towards exploration for new oil, gas and coal resources which, according to the UN’s IPCC climate panel, can never even be ‘consumed’ lest we go way beyond our – minimum – goals for CO2 concentrations and a global 2ºC warming limit.

 

4) And it keeps getting better. For who do you think pays for the research conducted for the IPCC reports? That’s right, the same G20 taxpayer. As in: you and me. We pay for both ends of the divine tragedy. We got it al covered. We pay for exploratory drilling in the Arctic, the Gulf of Mexico and all other ever harder to find, riskier and more polluting resources.

If this were not about us, we’d undoubtedly declare ourselves stark raving mad. Since it does directly involve us, though, we of course favor a more nuanced approach. Like sticking our heads in the sand.

I got that $88 billion a year number from a new report by British thinktank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Washington-based analysts Oil Change International, The Fossil Fuel Bailout: G20 Subsidies For Oil, Gas And Coal Exploration. The Guardian has a few more juicy tidbits:

Rich Countries Subsidising Oil, Gas And Coal Companies By $88 Billion A Year

Rich countries are subsidising oil, gas and coal companies by about $88bn (£55.4bn) a year to explore for new reserves, despite evidence that most fossil fuels must be left in the ground if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change.

 

The most detailed breakdown yet of global fossil fuel subsidies has found that the US government provided companies with $5.2bn for fossil fuel exploration in 2013, Australia spent $3.5bn, Russia $2.4bn and the UK $1.2bn. Most of the support was in the form of tax breaks for exploration in deep offshore fields.

 

The public money went to major multinationals as well as smaller ones who specialise in exploratory work, according to British thinktank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Washington-based analysts Oil Change International.

 

Britain, says their report, proved to be one of the most generous countries. In the five year period to 2014 it gave tax breaks totalling over $4.5bn to French, US, Middle Eastern and north American companies to explore the North Sea for fast-declining oil and gas reserves. A breakdown of that figure showed over $1.2bn of British money went to two French companies, GDF-Suez and Total, $450m went to five US companies including Chevron, and $992m to five British companies.

 

Britain also spent public funds for foreign companies to explore in Azerbaijan, Brazil, Ghana, Guinea, India and Indonesia, as well as Russia, Uganda and Qatar, according to the report’s data, which is drawn from the OECD, government documents, company reports and institutions.

 

The figures, published ahead of this week’s G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, contains the first detailed breakdown of global fossil fuel exploration subsidies. It shows an extraordinary “merry-go-round” of countries supporting each others’ companies. The US spends $1.4bn a year for exploration in Columbia, Nigeria and Russia, while Russia is subsidising exploration in Venezuela and China, which in turn supports companies exploring Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

 

“The evidence points to a publicly financed bail-out for carbon-intensive companies, and support for uneconomic investments that could drive the planet far beyond the internationally agreed target of limiting global temperature increases to no more than 2C,” say the report’s authors.

 

“This is real money which could be put into schools or hospitals. It is simply not economic to invest like this. This is the insanity of the situation. They are diverting investment from economic low-carbon alternatives such as solar, wind and hydro-power and they are undermining the prospects for an ambitious UN climate deal in 2015,” said Kevin Watkins, director of the ODI.

 

“The IPCC [UN climate science panel] is quite clear about the need to leave the vast majority of already proven reserves in the ground, if we are to meet the 2C goal. The fact that despite this science, governments are spending billions of tax dollars each year to find more fossil fuels that we cannot ever afford to burn, reveals the extent of climate denial still ongoing within the G20,” said Oil Change International director Steve Kretzman.

 

The report further criticises the G20 countries for providing over $520m a year of indirect exploration subsidies via the World Bank group and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) to which they contribute funds.

 

That’s right, as you see in the graph we pay more towards Big Oil’s future profits then the companies do themselves. Without getting shares in those companies, mind you. We pay Big Oil and coal to produce more fossil fuels, and at the same time we pay the UN to publish reports demanding they produce less of them. Feel crazy yet?

Did you have any idea that your government sponsors oil companies with your money, which they don’t need, and certainly shouldn’t? Aren’t we supposed to at least take a serious look at alternative energy sources, and more importantly, use less energy, whether it’s coal or solar? If only to show we do indeed understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics?!

Big Oil, like Wall Street banks, should be, and can, take care of themselves, and very well. May I suggest you try and find out who in your respective government has given the thumbs up to these crazy handouts, and when you do, make sure they’re fired.

 

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Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:20 | 5438766 ekm1
ekm1's picture

As I said....................

Of course oil industry will be subsidized and almost nationalised, like defense industry.

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:31 | 5438806 forexskin
forexskin's picture

Those $88 billion go towards exploration for new oil, gas and coal resources which, according to the UN’s IPCC climate panel, can never even be ‘consumed’ lest we go way beyond our – minimum – goals for CO2 concentrations and a global 2ºC warming limit.

stopped reading right there,

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:41 | 5438853 exi1ed0ne
exi1ed0ne's picture

+1

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 23:02 | 5439068 max2205
max2205's picture

Fuck up as it ever was.......

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 06:24 | 5439519 winchester
winchester's picture

subzidized, yes, nationalized, nop. when a country do not have money, they do not nationalize companies, they sell em.

 

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:49 | 5440033 11b40
11b40's picture

I thought the funniest part was when he described the Western countries doing the subsidizing as "rich", when in reality "broke" is a truer description.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:56 | 5438889 intotheblack
intotheblack's picture

I'm right there with you. Stopped reading, rated this artcle as crap.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:41 | 5439007 ParisParamus1
ParisParamus1's picture

Pathetic progressive propaganda. Tax breaks are not subsidies!  You know who gets subsidies?  All those disasterous green energy scams and sWINDles that have never earned a penny of profit.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 23:20 | 5439111 cro_maat
cro_maat's picture

Solar gets the ITC which is a tax break not a subsidy. Outside of the failed fraud of Solyndra Obola has done nothing for green energy. And yet solar projects abound because solar panel prices have gone from $6 / watt in 2009 to less than $1 / watt in 2014. Ask anyone with solar panels on their roof if they would like to go back to paying utility prices again. You will here a resounding no.

Also, if solar has no profits then why are Texas wealth funds investing in large solar projects along with fossil fuel MLPs? You should look beyond the oil propaganda. There are technological inovations that will change energy in the future that the oil industry is trying to delay or eliminate (Tesla, salt water batteries, hybrid vehicles, etc.). They will buy up patents and coerce banks / VCs not to fund but crowdfunding will win in the end. Oil is here for a very long future but it will not be growing but shrinking.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 06:28 | 5439523 winchester
winchester's picture

those who sell solar panels made money.....

those trying to make em working in delaware or new jersey lost money.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 09:22 | 5439749 OceanX
OceanX's picture

So, how is a tax break not a subsidy?

Without a tax break, wouldn't cost of operation be higher? 

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:52 | 5440048 11b40
11b40's picture

Of course it is a subsidy.  To say otherwise is just playing a game of semantics.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:57 | 5440070 11b40
11b40's picture

On what planet is a tax break not a subsidy?

If I have a competitor who gets a tax break, and I don't, my competitor is being subsidized by the government.  Furthermore, I am actually being forced to subsidize my competitor.

It may be right, it may be wrong, there may be reasons for it, but regardless of the value judgement, it is still a subsidy.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 01:21 | 5439319 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

And who the fuck do we think is going to pay for energy? Different governments subsidize all kinds of things but ultimately it is we consumers who always pay. If there is corruption or collusion seek it out and and it but if this 88 billion was eliminated do we not think it would be reflected in prices? Oil is what makes the world go round. We can just end it all like some seem to want and go back to 1800.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 09:49 | 5439757 OceanX
OceanX's picture

"Oil is what makes the world go round."

And I thought it was gravity, Damn public education!

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 17:52 | 5441770 forensicator
forensicator's picture

gravy is what makes the government go round.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:32 | 5438822 tired1
tired1's picture

People still beleive to this liquid dinosaur/fossil fuel bullsit? Desperate clingers.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:15 | 5439913 InjuredThales
InjuredThales's picture

This article is almost pure bullshit. I'd love to see details what those "subsidies" really are. Conveniently ignores the royalties and taxes that get scooped up when the stuff comes out of the ground.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 11:20 | 5440160 Dweeb
Dweeb's picture

Language tricks and labelling being used in this pathetic propaganda.   Putting the label of 'subsidy' on legitimate business expenses is deceptive.   All businesses have costs and the extraction/drilling process has some unusual costs.  This is an accounting issue that is being twisted into a political rallying cry.  We need to hear from some accountants on topics like:

1) exploration and production costs

2) amortization of E&P costs and expected revenue from the fossil fuel deposit

3) drilling and pre-production costs

This piece degrades the value of ZeroHedge ... or maybe it's throwing out some red meat to see the excitement that can be generated!

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:21 | 5438770 HedgeAccordingly
HedgeAccordingly's picture

Blackstone Thanks our Veterans with Bogus pledges.. 

 

http://hedgeaccordingly.com/2014/11/blackstones-schwarzman-michelle-obam...

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:31 | 5438813 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen.

How many lamp posts near 740 Park Ave?

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:21 | 5438773 Aeternus
Aeternus's picture

"That’s right, as you see in the graph we pay more towards Big Oil’s future profits then the companies do themselves. Without getting shares in those companies, mind you. We pay Big Oil and coal to produce more fossil fuels, and at the same time we pay the UN to publish reports demanding they produce less of them. Feel crazy yet?"

 

Fuck it, I give up, we should all move out into the wilderness and live in log cabins and mine for gold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od9D6TECSa0

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:22 | 5438778 tok1
tok1's picture

how does the photo relate oil subsadies?

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:33 | 5438824 nmewn
nmewn's picture

I think its the plastic rims on the childs sunglasses, but I could be wrong...lol.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:33 | 5438828 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen.

There we fucking go. TOK1 is anti-Jewish. Someone note this in his "PROFILE".

Gotcha.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:10 | 5438929 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

the shop in the photo is on broome street.

get it? broom?

he is saying we should sweep the incumbents out of office.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:23 | 5438781 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

That's what you get when Corporations are the government. In other words, fascism at its finest.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:26 | 5438786 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Does that include Ethanol subsidies?  

Can we start by stopping with the stupid Ethanol thing?

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:35 | 5438832 nmewn
nmewn's picture

+ a few billion algae and a barrel of french fry grease.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:56 | 5439045 toady
toady's picture

Way back in the 70's my Mom's cousin ( I guess that makes'em my cousin too... whatever) owned three McDonalds. He had a couple diesel Mercedes converted to run on the fry grease.

Didn't need to pay for fuel OR disposal of the used grease.

Way ahead of his time.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 08:31 | 5439626 oldmanofthesee
oldmanofthesee's picture

I think the problem with stopping, is what to do with those 5,000,000,000 bushels of corn, that go to ethanol each year? $3.70 corn becomrs $2.00 corn, and the farmers go belly up, so we have to subsidize them?

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 11:02 | 5440087 11b40
11b40's picture

You rotate the crops to something more useful, and that takes a lot less water and fewer chemicals to grow.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/secret-dirty-cost-obamas-green-power-push-1

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:26 | 5438794 GtownSLV
GtownSLV's picture

This is tree-huuger bullshit! Yes the oil companies get tax deductions for exploration just as any other company get's expense deductions for whatever the fuck they're doing.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:30 | 5438804 logicalman
logicalman's picture

If brains were dynamite, I doubt you could blow your hat off!

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:35 | 5438835 GtownSLV
GtownSLV's picture

Yah zippy, just keep on beleiving those IPCC globalist genius's... I'm sure they have your best interest at heart.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:12 | 5438937 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

you seem like a fat, stupid, semi-literate american who reads infowars and rants about furriners taking our jerbs.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:43 | 5439009 forexskin
forexskin's picture

and perhaps you thinking making that accusation confers upon you the mantle of intelligence?

uh yea...

how about saying what you really mean, unless...

 

"its better to keep you mouth closed and appear an imbecile, than to open it and remove all doubt" mark twain, roughly

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:49 | 5439019 MontgomeryScott
MontgomeryScott's picture

Stacking;

Listen very carefully.

The article is tree-hugging bullshit that uses a fact to try to make the tree-hugging points (like Anthropogenic Global warming, and ALGORE carbon taxation as a necessity). The FACT of subsidy for oil exploration borne on the backs of the taxpayer is a relevant one to a larger point, which you have obviously missed.

Half of the news I see here on ZH I read on Infowars a week ago, and it takes that long for ZH to get the story. Infowars often USES ZH as a source (as well). Your comment is that which is subject to the Saul Alinsky tests of argument.

The subsidies are guaranteed (by this late date in the Empire's existence) due to the fact that the USD is a PETROCURRENCY, NOT a gold-or-silver-backed one. Actually, the USD isn't even BACKED by oil; simply the control OF and trade FOR oil (it's a fucking hypothetical chart-fuck; a derivative; a CONfidence game).

I am neither FAT NOR STUPID, and my literacy rate exceeds that of the average reader (of ANY blog) by a fair amount. For example, I recognize your tactics of counter-argument quite easily, Saul.

Tell everyone your 'theories' about the geopolitical games being played over the control and price of oil, would you? It'll be fascinating, I'm sure. Let's try the Keystone XL Pipeline, and how it relates to the CNPC's investments in Canada, the TPP, the NAU, and the NAFTA Superhighway (as well as Obama's desire to favor his friends at the House of Saud). Throw in a little Ukranian overthrow (and the downing of MH17), just for good measure, would you?

There's a good BOY...

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 23:24 | 5439121 cro_maat
cro_maat's picture

I knew I would get a better analysis below the article than in the article. Thanks. +1

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 23:50 | 5439163 MontgomeryScott
MontgomeryScott's picture

"I sell portfolio analytic software in a world where all prices are manipulated through collusion or HFT."

Have you ever heard of a man by the name of Richard Andrew Grove? He didn't just sell ANY old software, you know. He sold software that was instrumental in the HFT intercepts that are commonly used (now) by all the large investment firms. He got stuck in traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge the morning of 9/11/2001, and was about to join a meeting that was going to voice his findings as to the illegality of this to the company he worked for (and he watched as the first plane plowed into the office where he was supposed to be).

His story is quite fascinating, to say the least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpl503nxeac&list=PLE8B8C92E50124F93

Marsh and McLellan, a subsidiary of Kroll and Associates, a subsidiary of AIG...

Who thought that accounting and software development could be so FUN?

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 03:39 | 5439431 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

MontgomeryScott,

now, YOU listen very carefully.

my comment was not directed to  you, i was replying to GtownSLV

do you understand how the ZH comment threading works?

when someone posts on ZH, the comment above and and indented once to the left, is the one that they are replying to.

i can't  believe i have to explain this to someone who claims to be "not stupid", and whose "literacy rate exceeds that of the average reader"

yeah. good luck with that.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 15:46 | 5441290 still kicking
still kicking's picture

Wow, you are even dumber than I thought originally.  Why don't you go back and look at the order of comments, Montgomery didn't comment before his comment to you, he was just trying to educate your stupid ass.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:33 | 5438826 Nutflush60
Nutflush60's picture

Typical intellectual honest of the left

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:28 | 5438801 Nutflush60
Nutflush60's picture

Your $37 billion a year number is pure crap.  XOM capex alone is $34 billion. Now go make love to a solar panel

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:30 | 5438805 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Before we go full retard (and I'm against ALL subsidies) how much subsidy was given to oil companies/refiners forced by law to comply with mixing in ethanol?

And corn prices, we all cool wif dat? The acerage devoted to moar corn, everything ok? How bout the mercury filled lightbulbs manufactured in China now instead of Wisconsin, we all good?

Well then, carry on ;-)

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:40 | 5438852 lanchende
lanchende's picture

And they are not subsidies they are tax breaks. Eliminate corporate taxes and eliminate the problem

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:12 | 5438936 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Yeah, +1 lanchende, I slip up too, with the language used to describe/define what it is.

Its like when they say a "tax credit" is a tax cut...its pure herding bullshit, no its not, you act in a certain way or you get taxed higher...or even less growth in the ever expanding .gov bureaucracy is a cut in "customer service"...and the chillren will die horrible deaths on the sidewalks because they can't read >>>Get Your Free Shit Here<<<...lol.

I'm forced to cede a few things to the progs, just not reality ;-)

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:30 | 5438982 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Taxation is theft.

Government is a protection racket.

Simple.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:27 | 5438971 lipskid
lipskid's picture

Corporations are people, they should pay at the same rate as the rest of us and also pay on gross, not net, like the rest of us.

Citizens United, you take the good and the bad at face value. Welcome to personhood!

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 07:57 | 5439574 mygameon
mygameon's picture

+100 for your comment from an Iowan here. Add required biodiesel mix which distorts soybeans and animal fats markets, and the resultant glycerin being sent back to feed producers and well, you get the point.

The next big ass fucking will manifest next year in farming with corn input costs at $4.50 a bushel and commodities showing a price of $3.75ish as far as the eye can see. Soybeans not as bad,but still bad when land costs over $4000 per acre.

They is a massive Midwest bailout on every row crop farmer on the horizon.

This doesn't contemplate the impact of the California drought.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:31 | 5438807 GOSPLAN HERO
GOSPLAN HERO's picture

Long live our crony-capitalist socialist fatherland!

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:34 | 5438827 venturen
venturen's picture

I would like to see a better break out of these "subsidies". I have looked at he renewables industry where it is out right cash....we are talking many billions. Goldmen et al get to depreciate the wind and solar at an accelrated rate then sell it to the next crooked bank and rewash. Renewables have been very good to the banking industry. A lawyer friend makes about 1/2 million a year packing renewable deals. The oil industry is more like they get to depreciate their equipment....just like everyone else. The ethanol thing is beyond stupid....but it does help my farmer friends...that I met after they bought some beach front property in Florida. 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:35 | 5438829 deeply indebted
deeply indebted's picture

"Without getting shares in those companies, mind you."

Of course WE don't get shares. That's how fascism works. When "regular folks" don't go for it, there's always "Too Big To Fail", "coordinated action", and "whatever it takes."

Feel fucked yet?

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:42 | 5438856 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

The gas tax alone is ~ $.45 a gallon - WAY MORE than any oil company makes in profit per gallon.

 

 

 

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:54 | 5438883 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen.

I always have to laugh at you Americans. You pay the gas tax without protest, your government says "we need the money to build and maintain the roadways", but the Americans never audit the money trail.

Then your USSA government says: "you have to pay for driving on the roads that you just paid to build and maintain, purchase a easypass(or whatever)".

Fucking unbelievable. If I wanted to find a country full of idiots who would hand over all of their money to me I would come to America.

Opps, I already did. Lol. Luv u guys.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:59 | 5438905 besnook
besnook's picture

if there ever was a "good" tax. that is the one. in most states it is totally earmarked for road maintenance and construction. if you want to get mad at a tax wait until you see a property tax road and highway assessment because not enough gas tax can be collected to pay for roads. you'll have to pay the tax whether you use the roads or not. you'll be paying for the privilege of others to drive their own private cars.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:46 | 5438870 Evil Bugeyes
Evil Bugeyes's picture

$88 billion for all the countries in the G20? Actually, I could make that up. I would have guessed several hundred billion. Every major industry seems to find some way to attach its suckers to the government. Housing, farming, construction, medicine: you name it and it is probably getting something from the government somehow.

These guys don't seem so much angered by the idea of subsidies. Just that they are going to fossil fuel companies.

Gee, maybe we could try subsidizing some promising solar cell manufacturing startups. Oops!

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:49 | 5438874 robochess
robochess's picture

well then... just add that to price of one gallon that you love at $2.60 per. 

 

If companies put in 37 and have to add 88 to it, do u think you're still going to pay $2 fucking .60 per?

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:49 | 5438878 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Who controls America?!

An American, not US subject.

 

Did anyone else catch the sly book ending of pictures/graphics in this article?

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:57 | 5438899 migoy
migoy's picture

is there anything left that zh likes?  libertarian anarchy.  need to read up on the aftermath of the french revolution.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 21:59 | 5438901 surf0766
surf0766's picture

You lost me at IPCC

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:11 | 5438916 captcorona
captcorona's picture

A Tax Break is not a subsidy. Words have meaning and this one is used poorley all the time. Please learn the meaning of

sub·si·dy /s?bs?d?/ noun- a sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive.

The US Government does NOT give money to Oil Companies. Please say Tax Break when you mean Tax Break and Subsidy when the Government actually writes a check for deposit by some benefactor. One comes from the US Treasury (subsidy) and one was never in the US Treasury (tax break). Words have meaning. Please use them correctly.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:15 | 5438942 Spungo
Spungo's picture

I can understand a CO2 limit, but how do you impose a warming limit? That includes all kinds of positive feedback loops that we don't control. Example: snow and ice reflect sunlight. As the polar caps melt and turn into open water, more light is absorbed and less is reflected. Melting also affects the shape of the snow and ice. Old ice reflects light like a polished piece of silver, but partially melted ice has more of a scattering effect. We're also seeing an increased frequency of forest fires, and the ash from those fires is landing on Greenland. Ash absorbs the light instead of reflecting it. The permafrost contains a huge amount of methane, and that methane is released to the atmosphere when the permafrost melts. Oceans are also releasing CO2 as they warm up. There are so many positive feedback loops happening that it seems unlikely the temperature will only go up 2 degrees this century.

It seems like it's too late to stop global warming from happening. Historically, warming and cooling trends have positive feedback loops. Once it starts warming, it warms faster and faster. Once it starts cooling, it cools faster and faster.
This century will definitely be an interesting one, but that's true of every century.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:01 | 5439865 Dickweed Wang
Dickweed Wang's picture

If you (and like minded people) want to limit or cap CO2 then stop breathing. You might want to plug all the active volcanoes while you're at it because just one major eruption (e.g. the Mt. St. Helens eruption) will release more CO2 than the total of all human activity since the start of the industrial age.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:16 | 5438943 beavertails
beavertails's picture

Blah blah Blah

Snow Snow Snow

Hookers and Blow

 

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:16 | 5438946 Bazza McKenzie
Bazza McKenzie's picture

Love the headline "And Then There’s The Things You Couldn’t Even Make Up" -- since they just did.

Every business gets to deduct their costs of development and production/distribution from their revenue before calculating profit on which they might reasonably be taxed. 

One would have thought that was pretty fundamental business understanding for ZH.

Whether tax rates are reasonable or not may be a fair point for debate, but trying to claim you should ignore costs of production when determining taxable capacity is leftist BS trotted out in this article.  The purpose of course is to try to justify what are real subsidies to "green energy" whose expenses consistently exceed their open market revenue while producing derisory amounts of energy that the community is forced to pay for.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 23:43 | 5439152 Abrick
Abrick's picture

Please remind me of any other industry that gets a tax-free and in some cases royalty-free ride until all of their capital costs are recovered. Honest question, haven't been able to find that deal anywhere else.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 00:16 | 5439229 Boxed Merlot
Boxed Merlot's picture

...any other industry that gets a tax-free and in some cases royalty-free ride until all of their capital costs are recovered...

 

How about the fed?   Or even gold miners?  Between bought and paid for politicos authorizing carte blanch printing priveleges for the former and mineral depletion allowances for the latter, it's amazing either ever contribute anything back to the  "people".  Not that those that own Yosemite, Yellowstone and the vast expanses our good senator from Nevada has been trying to give away to China matter anyway.  I'm sure we'll make it up once the global carbon credit system gets fully functional.

 

 

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:28 | 5438975 Juvenal laughs
Juvenal laughs's picture

Crap. Global warming is a hoax.

 

Despite that, subsidizing is of course nothing else then pumping around money to console a lot of consultants and public 'servants'.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 15:09 | 5441133 Radical Marijuana
Radical Marijuana's picture

Supicious0berservers provide some of the better material to put the issue of the degree to which "global warming is a hoax" into proper perspective:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PDC5s3VD7I&list=PLHSoxioQtwZcqdt3LK6d66...

The situation is way more hyper-complicated than you imply, Juvenal laughs, but then, this article seemed to attract more than its fair share of over-simplified comments.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:31 | 5438989 logicalman
logicalman's picture

There's lots of shit that needs to get done that doesn't because there's no money in it.

There's lots of shit that shouldn't happen that does because there's lots of money in it.

If you wish to understand the world and history, keep that in mind.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 09:51 | 5439837 Dickweed Wang
Dickweed Wang's picture

Excellent summary of reality in modern society (going back at least 150 years) . . . . . .

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:35 | 5439000 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

Below is a post that acts as a primer that looks at how the debt America has must be laid at the feet of each of us. It will make anyone who reads it think twice before saying that each 3 to 13 billion dollar program government considers should be passed. At one time a billion dollars was a lot of money and it still is.

Most people that haven't given government debt much thought and might not think about how much money a billion dollars is considering how modern media and politicians throw the "B" word around. On several occasions I have heard both Washington politicians and the news media accidentally confuse a billion dollars with its much smaller sister the million marker.

This drives me crazy. With a billion dollars being a thousand time larger this confusion is undefendable.  The article below is a primmer on the ugly math of our debt delving into how much it cost each and every American when the government spends a billion dollar.

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/10/an-ugly-math-primer-on-american-debt.html

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 22:39 | 5439006 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Maybe Big Oil used their joker card with Gubbmint Groupon Coupons.

. . . but Cambo said we're all in it together; so it's not true? I feel naked and angry.

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 23:26 | 5439127 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

did the author just now realize that the usa is totally fascist?

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 23:52 | 5439168 the6thBook
the6thBook's picture

And how much are governments making off of taxing oil?

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 02:39 | 5439394 JawsMusic
JawsMusic's picture

How the fuck is not robbing someone a subsidy?

 

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 15:53 | 5439397 Radical Marijuana
Radical Marijuana's picture

A flip side of subsidization was the way that alcohol and hemp were criminalized in order to be put out of business, so that they could not compete. Overall, it is practically impossible to have any objective assessment of the ways that the industrial revolutions developed. Everything operating within social pyramid systems was totally screwed up by the central issue of those who were best able to back up lies with violence actually controlling civilization The lies are different at every level, while the fundamental fact is that our civilization is controlled by Huge Lies, to such an astonishing degree that it is practically impossible to judge anything regarding economic decisions rationally, since the foundation is enforced frauds.

We live in a Bizarro Mirror World, where everything appears proportionately backwards. For instance, when one looks at food, there is an inverted pyramid of subsidizations, where the least healthy foodstuffs are subsidized the most, while the most healthy foodstuffs are subsidized the least, (with the most extreme example being that hemp seeds were criminalized.) Anyone who is seriously and systematically thinks about "Things You Couldn’t Even Make Up" ought to include in their list that alcohol is the most important molecule in organic chemistry, while hemp is the single best plant on the planet for people, for food, fiber, fun and medicine, yet, both were criminalized at crucial points in history to put them out of business, so that they could not compete with other industries which were able to corrupt the political processes to achieve those goals.

All of those considerations track back through the funding of the political processes, through the combined money/murder systems, to the history of successful warfare being based upon backing up deceits with destruction, which then became the foundation of political economy to become enforced frauds. The deeper problems are that when people can not agree, then they fight, while those fights tended to be won by the people who were the best at backing up lies with violence. That was the mechanism behind creating the political situations where the patterns of subsidizations versus criminalizations are about as BACKWARDS and BIZARRE as they possibly could be!

The deeper problems are always that there still MUST be some death controls to back up some debt controls, while the ACTUAL ways that worked out was that those ended up being done by the best organized gangs of criminals capturing control over the political processes, so that the laws did the maximum opposite of what otherwise would seem to make sense! OUTSIDE OF THE BASIC FACT THAT THERE IS A MURDER SYSTEM TO BACK UP THE MONEY SYSTEM, THERE IS NO WAY TO UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ELSE, BECAUSE WITHOUT THAT INSIGHT, THEN ALMOST EVERYTHING GOVERNMENTS DO APPEARS TO BE "WAY BEYOND STUPID" AND "STARK RAVING MAD." That is true enough when perceived from the presumptions of most sets of human ideals regarding what could be some "better world," however, the actual TOTALITY of the ways that energy systems operate, INCLUDING the necessary death controls, which developed in the necessary ways, since it was necessary that the energy that flowed through the entropic pump systems of civilization followed the paths of least resistance, which was the human paths of least morality.

Almost everyone, including me, of course, tends to WISH that the real world was not quite such a manifestation of runaway social insanities, due to the history of warfare becoming the foundation of economics based on enforced frauds. However, there are NO ways to fix that without there being better death controls at the heart of any realistic set of solutions to those problems, which was WHY those problems are almost impossible to resolve better, but instead are being amplified at an exponential rate towards PEAK INSANITIES! Meanwhile, the article above concludes with the typical kind of superficial remarks made by another reactionary revolutionary: "May I suggest you try and find out who in your respective government has given the thumbs up to these crazy handouts, and when you do, make sure they’re fired."

The Bizarro Mirror World problems, that everything ended up being proportionately backwards, could only be resolved by going Through That Looking Glass. Namely, the only genuine solutions would have to be to the real problems, which would require better murder systems to back up better money systems, in order that then the rest of the political economy could be improved to become more rational overall. There is no way to make the economic systems become more objectively rational unless there was some realistic way to deal with the core of the irrationality, which is the history of warfare whose success was based on deceits, in which context spies were the most important soldiers, BECAUSE that then became the foundation for the existing political economy based on enforced frauds, in which, throughout the gamut of all economic sectors, one will find fractal patterns of organized crime dominating the political processes, to produce results which appear at first glance to be "way beyond stupid" and "stark raving mad."

Every industry, in every sector, was built on the basis of short-term expedients, due to society be controlled by systems of lies backed by violence, which gradually become more sophisticated to become legalized lies, backed by legalized violence, which continued to allow and enable the industrial revolutions to strip-mine the natural resources of a fresh planet, while disregarding what that would mean to future generations, as well as discounting every way in which those industries were polluting the natural environment, which again were things that future generations would have to pay for, while the rich, old people dominating the established systems through their triumphant enforced frauds could continue to maximize their own short-term benefits, while sharing enough of those short-term benefits with enough others to keep their systems of organized lies, operating robberies, going ...

The petroleum industry was first and foremost amongst those industries which can NOT be understood outside of the context of military history, and the fractal patterns of organized crime directing what civilization actually did. In its own overall sublime way, the universe continues to be perfect, in the sense that energy continues to be conserved through human systems controlled by lies backed by violence. However, from the perspective of the vast majority of human beings, and especially from the perspective of the future of the human species, nothing causes more suffering than the evil deliberate ignorance that follows from industries built on enforced frauds, which manifests in many way, including the apparently bizarre and backwards patterns of what was subsidized versus what was criminalized.

Welcome to our Bizarro Mirror World Fun House, Folks!

Solutions to problems are go through the looking glass.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 04:10 | 5439447 godzila
godzila's picture

Completely, utterly stupid post. I don't even know where to start - this piece defies intelligence.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 07:55 | 5439572 quikwit
quikwit's picture

Thanks.  Your lucid explanation of the post's flaws has made us all wiser.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:38 | 5439994 fche
fche's picture

One can start with the silly notion that tax credits - i.e., deductibility of certain business expenses - is somehow a special subsidy.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 08:15 | 5439598 Absinthe Minded
Absinthe Minded's picture

Unfortunately, if you remove that subsidy we will be paying $7.00 for a gallon of gas. Why do you think our gas is half what every other country pays? Besides, no ball lapping politician would ever champion that cause, lest he lose his own under the table subsidies.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 11:38 | 5440231 Tachyon5321
Tachyon5321's picture

 

 

Actually,  The $7 per gal is not from the lack of a subsidy, but from taxes.  

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 08:18 | 5439602 EemieMeanieMinieMoe
EemieMeanieMinieMoe's picture

Endeavor to persevere..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 09:04 | 5439698 Rjgroad
Rjgroad's picture

If you are an analyst, your work here is malpractice. If you are a reporter, your analysis is juvenile. If you are actually serious with this piffle, then you are a moron. Oil industry effective tax rates are among the highest. Oil industry Return on Capital is middle of the pack. Quoting IPCC is a cruel joke. You want to write about stupid Govt allocations of capital, look no further than the alternate energy scams like Solyndra. Man grow up. Do the work. And think your position through before wasting everyone's time.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:52 | 5440046 655321
655321's picture

Subtle picture, point well made, looks like it escaped nearly everyone on this forum.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:54 | 5440060 655321
655321's picture

The picture makes a subtle point, well done.  Looks like the point was missed by nearly all posters.

Wed, 11/12/2014 - 10:54 | 5440062 655321
655321's picture

The picture makes a subtle point, well done.  Looks like the point was missed by nearly all posters.

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