A consensus of one
July 18, 2007
Rick Esenberg tries to convince people that the GOP is the reality-based party:
Democrats try to chide Republicans by [sic] ignoring scientific consensus on global warming. I don’t buy into that, but don’t Democrats (at least the leftier versions) routinely disregard the consensus among economists on things like minimum wage laws, price controls, protectionism, high marginal tax rates, etc.?
C’mon, guys. The science is in.
Say what? Ignoring the assertion that economics is science, as opposed to statistics and mathematical modelling.
First, we don’t “try” to chide Republicans for ignoring the science of climate change. We actually do chide them. Time will tell if it’s a helpful thing to do.
Second, the only thing on that list about which there is something like an economic consensus is price-fixing (*). Name one Democrat, any Democrat, who supports price controls, which haven’t played a role in American life since the Nixon Administration. If memory serves, Richard Nixon was not a Democrat.
The rest of the things on the list are things about which liberals and conservatives disagree. That the Democratic Party routinely disregards conservative theories about economic policy, in favor of more liberal ideas, is the main reason I’m a Democrat.
The answer to your question, by the way, is No.
(*) And even then, no one complains about price controls in some markets. To take one example, private utilities that are regulated and subjected to oversight perform much better than say, Enron, at least if the criterion is the public good (the low-cost provision of reliable electricity to everyone), rather than the utility’s profit margin.
(**) Re: marginal tax rates, obviously a tax rate of 100% will result in zero revenue, absent some coercive mechanism for compelling people to work. But for tax rates that fall within the range of normal Western tax policy, the the Laffer curve and trickle-down theories of economic development have been empirically discredited even by economists within the Bush Administration. The political hacks, of course, continue to claim the opposite.
July 19th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Chide all you want but you will never convince me that the USA is destroying the Planet. I have personally been almost all over the world and the USA is the cleanest place I’ve been yet except maybe Canada.
If we are in fact Warming the planet why don’t we suggest something instead the the Economicily destructive Kyoto Protocols and do something that will actually Cool the planet.
I belive the last President to Do price controls was Jimmy Carter in the 70’s.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:53 am
President Carter’s economic policy consisted largely of deregulation. He ended price controls on oil and gasoline, deregulated the airline and trucking industries, and appointed Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve (it was Volcker who managed to bring inflation under control).
Global warming is a world-wide problem, not an American one. When you’re in a hole, you stop digging. The first thing to do is to bring carbon emissions down to a sustainable level. We can absorb a 1-2 degree increase in global temperature. We probably cannot absorb a 4-6 degree increase without severe economic and societal problems of the sort that would vastly outstrip any productivity lost from Kyoto.
And it’s not even clear that carbon reduction would weaken the economy, as opposed to directing it into different areas — investment in clean energy, or transit, or other environmentally-friendly areas becomes a lot more profitable. Although I admit, if you are Exxon, or Halliburton, or a political party that they fund, it might suck to be you.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Who says the climate right now is perfect?
If CO2 really is a pollutant then we pollute the Air when we exhale.
Can you name any Scientists who say that Man Made Global warming is a Fact?
I can name Doctor Roy Spencer for one who says it’s not true.
In all honesty sometimes I am amazed at our arrogance to think we can actually destroy the planet by our pure exsitence.
July 21st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Take a deep breath, I’m going to try to use html.
In answer to your first question, I’ll refer you here.
I don’t know what you mean by, “If Carbon dioxide really is a pollutant then we pollute the Air when we exhale.” Do you mean that you don’t believe that carbon dioxide contributes to the greenhouse effect? Look here.Do you mean that human emissions are dwarfed by natural ones? Try here. Some clarification would be nice, since I don’t think you really believe in classifying pollutants based on whether or not they’re products of human respiration.
The Supreme Court just recently ruled that carbon dioxide was a pollutant. It’s a decidedly right-leaning court, but the issue is very nonpartisan- Republicans need to get on the bandwagon.
As for scientists who say that Man Made Global warming is a Fact, off the top of my head I can name James Hansen. You can also read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change here.
I don’t know if we can destroy the planet by our pure existence, but we can certainly destroy ourselves.
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
The main reason I am a skeptic is the complexity of the planet and the fact that nothing has really changed Climate wise in my life time.
Here is Dr Roy Spensor’s take on Climate change
http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-Spencer-on-global-warming.htm
Sorry but I don’t know HTML very well