Domain: areavoices.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to areavoices.com.
Comments · 8
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Re:Not aggressive enough.
Here's six of them.
"(not counting 2 trillion dollars and 4000 lives in a war over oil)Intangible drilling oil & gas deduction ($2.3 billion)
Excess of percentage over cost depletion ($1.5 billion)
Master Limited Partnerships tax exemption ($1.6 billion)
Last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting ($1.7 billion)
Lost royalties from onshore and offshore drilling ($1.2 billion)
Low-cost leasing of coal-production in the Powder River Basin ($963 million)As subsidies age, they start to look less like subsidies. They start looking like fixed features of the landscape, like mountains or rivers, rather than choices we are making. They just look like the status quo.
In terms of permanent tax expenditures, fossil fuels beat renewables by a 7-1 margin:"
https://renewnd.areavoices.com...
In the 2015-2016 election cycle, oil, gas, and coal companies spent $354 million in campaign contributions and lobbying and received $29.4 billion in federal subsidies in total over those same years â" an 8,200% return on investment.
See also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..."A 2016 study estimated that global fossil fuel subsidies were $5.3 trillion in 2015, which represents 6.5% of global GDP.[3] The study found that "China was the biggest subsidizer in 2013 ($1.8 trillion), followed by the United States ($0.6 trillion), and Russia, the European Union, and India (each with about $0.3 trillion)."[3] The authors estimated that the elimination of "subsidies would have reduced global carbon emissions in 2013 by 21% and fossil fuel air pollution deaths 55%, while raising revenue of 4%, and social welfare by 2.2%, of global GDP."[3] According to the International Energy Agency, the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies worldwide would be the one of the most effective ways of reducing greenhouse gases and battling global warming.[4] In May 2016, the G7 nations set for the first time a deadline for ending most fossil fuel subsidies; saying government support for coal, oil and gas should end by 2025.[13]"
https://www.huffingtonpost.com...
"Oil Change International has released a new study this week that evaluates the progress that G20 nations have made toward phasing out these subsidies. The results are not pretty. No subsidies have been eliminated since the pledge was taken in 2009, and even more disturbingly, G20 countries are simply changing the definition of what subsidies are in order to claim progress.
In short, the G20 is cooking the books and cooking the planet. As the graphic below shows, there is likely more than $1 trilion annually provided for the production and consumption of oil, gas, and coal. Thatâ(TM)s a lot of money to be wasting and hiding, and it could be put to far better use for education, hunger, poverty, renewable energy, and many many other uses. "
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Ga...
"I have posted frequently (most recently in a three-part series that starts here) on the topic of underpricing of energy in the United States, but we are not the only offender. Many countries around the world subsidize consumer energy prices in ways that bring them to levels even lower than what U.S. consumers pay. These policies burden the rich and the poor alikeâ"rich countries like Saudi Arabia and poor ones like Egypt, and within each country, both rich and poor citizens.Who subsidizes fuel prices and why?
Many countries around the world subsidize fuel prices. A recent
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Re:Hmm
Pioneer 11 was the first probe to visit Saturn. One of its trajectories considered for the mission (and eventually rejected) was to pass right through the Cassini Division. Once Pioneer got there, we found out the Cassini Division wasn't quite as empty as it appears from Earth.
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Re:Yet US oil producers pay no taxes, get subsidiz
when they pump it out of the ground in the United States they pay zero taxes
Then how did North Dakota get $1.7 billion in oil tax revenue in 2011?
Each well in the Bakken shale averages payments of $4.4 million in taxes, $7.6 million in royalties, $1.6 million in salaries and wages.
Don't just look at Federal taxes...
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Re:Religious implications
Never mind.
"Because the orbits of the two comets are similar doesn’t necessarily mean that the 1680 comet is the same as C/2012 S1 (ISON). It’s more likely a fragment of that comet. The orbital period of the 1680 comet is somewhere around 9,000-10,000 years, so the last time it was near Earth was long before the birth of Christ." -
Re:Best Preference
You're an idiot. We get it. Next you'll be question evolution, quantum mechanics and whether the Earth is round.
It's very well established that Americans avoid even going to doctors because they can't afford to pay for either what must come out of their pockets, whether they have insurance or not because it's that uncertain. They don't even get up to bat to be denied.
Major Medical Mystery (sic) why people avoid doctorsDo Americans avoid going to a doctor because it will cost them money?
And yes Virginia, Americans absolutely do get turned away from hospitals and doctors:
Uninsured Americans Still At Risk For Getting Turned Away By Hospitals
Critically ill uninsured Americans still at risk of being turned away from hospitals despite law
Ambulance Diversion
People to do manage to get care also go bankrupt primarily due to medical bills (not covered by insurance)
Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptciesPlaintiff challenging healthcare law went bankrupt – with unpaid medical bills
The fact is that America has the WORST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM of ANY developed or even most developing countries. The only par countries are the lower rungs of developing countries and undeveloped countries. Other far less wealthy nations manage to deliver far better healthcare than the US. I know personally because I've lived overseas in these countries.
Your ship has sailed for specious and ignorant rhetorical tricks and debating games. The facts are clear.
BTW I don't even bother getting health care in the US any long. I have group insurance that covers international providers so my primarily care doctors are in Mexico, Thailand and Germany now. Even with airfare it's still cheaper, less stressful, better quality and more certain than getting the same in the USA now! I only carry insurance in the US for being hit by a bus - my group plan is set up to transport me overseas once I'm stable in such situations (again still cheaper than standard US insurance).
ObarmaCare is a day late and dollar short as far as I'm concerned. But the Republican alternatives are even much worse. Basically criminality of political and immorality of leadership dominates both parties completely. To regain my trust it will take decades of a clean track record and that clock has yet to even start.
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Big, but not "grossly obese"
I don't think "grossly obese" is a valid assessment. She's big, but not huge. Judge for yourself:
http://www.areavoices.com/CapitolChat/images/0429mnxgrsession-dd_speaker_1.jpg
To my eye, she's the kind of big woman who -- although standing no chance of auditioning for Baywatch -- could be great fun in the sack
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Re:Sky coverage + Observing Time = Discoveries
I wish they described how the discovered got funneled up to the supernova scientists on the paper published on it. She must have been with someone who really knew that the "new star" she saw there wasn't supposed to be there, and that person deserves some credit, too!
She shares the hobby with her dad. There's some more on that part of the story, along with a picture of her rig, here: http://www.areavoices.com/astrobob/?blog=37663
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Re:are you kidding?
There are benefits to electronic voting, if it's done right. With hand voting you are guaranteed to have some error. The counting can be done quicker electronically (when done right). With electronic voting, it is easier to make sure the ballots are valid. For example, look at this ballot from the recent Minnesota election. Did that person want to vote for Al Franken or for lizard people? That is not a question that would even come up with electronic voting.
As long as there is a voter verified paper trail, it can work. Furthermore, it will be harder to rig the election, because not only will you have to rig the electronic box, you will also have to rig the paper ballots. If they come out unequal, there will be problems. Although it can be simple to rig one or the other, rigging both is harder.