Why do we have a federal Department of Education? Is there a set of common guidelines that apply uniformly for all school districts across These United States? A set of rules, goals, and guidelines that apply to inner-city Harlem, NY as well as ultra-rural American Falls, ID? Eliminate this Department, give the money back to the States, and be done with it.
Tesla scares the bejesus out of the car companies because he could very well come in from the side and own the entire industry because he's already patented all the technology needed to actually build these cars.
Electric cars existed well before Tesla, and continue to exist outside of Tesla. Many of their patents are very niche focused, things like charging plugs (there are plenty of alternatives, used in high power connections for decades) or the like. As far as scaring, Tesla still hasn't turned a profit on their cars - they only "make" money if you include the Government redistribution of carbon taxes - which is set to expire in about 2 years. Tesla not making profit on their cars by then? Good luck after that...
Well, if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... Their actions do tend to look a lot like Jesse Jackson's "Rainbow Coalition", in that righteous indignation is aimed at a given highly valuable entity until said entity donates a lot of money, and then another entity is targeted - regardless of any real changes.
But that misses the point: trying to publicly shame Amazon into making a pro-Greenpeace statement and giving them a few hundred thousand dollars as penance...
It's a sad state of affairs in the USA that almost every public company, without question only looks as far as their next quarterly report, and no further down the road. This is why all these businesses are run by idiots that can't even tell you what their company even *does*, because they are so focused on manipulating the stock price and their personal bonuses.
One reason the Japanese kicked our asses in the 1980's is that they were looking at 10-year plans while the USA looked only to the next quarter. Now the Chinese are doing the same, with long-term strategies, and we continue to have not learned our lessons.
I don't doubt that long-term strategy is important, but focusing exclusively on that is the sure road to ruin. For example, the Japanese were kicking our asses in the 1980s. How did that turn out? To win at business, you need to maximize your current position without harming your future growth. It's a tough line to walk, but you need both - or you either kill your future for the present, or simply cannot survive to the future.
Taxes are down? The corporate tax rate hasn't changed in 20+ years in the US. Wages are definitely down, and tax receipts are down, but that's what happens when the entire economy turns down. But corporate tax rates are stable (and the highest in the G20).
Not thriving? The energy industry in the US is insanely profitable.
Interesting. How profitable is the US energy industry? Looking at the latest tax returns of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Texaco, it looks like they make about 7% return. I wouldn't call that insanely profitable at all...
Decibels used in SONAR are referenced to 1 microPascal; deciBels used in audio are referenced to 20 microPascals. Thus there is a 26 dB difference in level. A level of 140 dB underwater is the same as 114 dB SPL (in air). About a mid-level peak at an EDM club. Source: designing SONAR systems for scientific and fisheries research for the better part of a decade...
The money that has been taken has been backed with T-bills. Financially, it's as if the money was never taken out in the first place. Nevertheless, Social Security is now running in the red (drawing down on those T-bills) and will continue to do so until it's out of cash sometime in the next 20-25 years. Thus the talk about raising the tax rate, or lifting other exemptions (without raising the equivalent max benefit), or other means to increase funding without increasing expenses.
Social security is, in fact, behaving as a classic Ponzi scheme, except to keep the scheme going the schemer (US Federal Government in this case) is planning to charge late entries even higher rates to invest in the scheme. The problem is not use of funds now - the problem is structural. It will not survive long term without restructuring because it promises to pay out more than it receives - like a Ponzi scheme.
Seriously - why? There are less than 100,000 K-12 schools in the US, we're talking about $10,000 PER SCHOOL in the US, each year. I just upgraded my office (12 Ubiquiti access points, covering 45,000 square feet - probably about the average size of a school campus) to 150 Mbps down/65 Mbps up FiOS for $250 per month. Should cost less than $1000 for the hardware, and less than $3000 per year for the service. Where does the other $6,000 go - for the first year? And what about all the following years?
When you do your work, do you routinely cut corners, lie, and make stuff up just to get your next paycheck? That's what you're claiming pretty much everyone else in private industry does...
So adjustments on the scale of what the IPCC is warning us about aren't anything to worry about? Hokay....
For the last 18 years, it was well established by the pro-AGW crowd that 17 years was needed for a signal. We have 18 years - and no signal. Not to mention the pro-AGW side likes to ignore the Medieval warm period, or the little ice age (the former being as warm - or warmer - than now).
As far as Professor Easterbrook, that "Skeptical Science" site has about as much reliability as the old Enzyte site pushing penis pills. A lot of handwaving and ignoring of facts... His predictions from the late 1990s were spot-on. He correctly predicted the current pause, and calls for us to enter a period of cooling. Well, we've got the pause - now to see if we get the cooling.
Null hypothesis: Does human activity have no impact on the environment?
That's not the claim, however. The claim is that human activity impacts climate specifically, not just the environment (which can be as much as cutting your grass impacts the environment).
I usually ignore ACs, but your post is the standard rebuttal about "what subsidies?" and it's totally wrong...
1. Tax credit for paying foreign taxes. This is a "subsidy" as far as EVERY SINGLE COMPANY gets the same thing. If you pay $1 in income tax overseas, you do not have to pay that same $1 on the same income. It applies to profits earned overseas, and already taxed. ALL companies get this; if you want to call this an energy subsidy, then you can also call it a subsidy for renewables/solar/wind - because they get it as well (oh, and you can also say that every overseas US worker gets the subsidy because when they pay taxes on their overseas income, they get to deduct those paid taxes from the US taxes they owe).
2. Credit for alternative fuel production. Uhhh, you mean ALTERNATIVE energy credits? Yep - there's that dastardly Big Oil stealing the money from alternative energy to, uh, fund traditional oil/gas? Nope. It's for GREEN initiatives, like ethanol and the like. Fuels that would NOT be competitive on the market unless they are subsidized, fuels that are "green" and alternative. Why this is not included in the alternative energy subsidies I don't know - guess something had to stick somewhere?
3. Oil and gas exploration and expensing. I guess R&D for technology shouldn't be deductible. That land prep for farmers shouldn't be deductible. That planting new trees for tree farms shouldn't be deductible. That clearing land for solar and wind shouldn't be deductible. It's a standard business expense - R&D - that ALL BUSINESSES get to deduct.
Yep, some great list! Now, I wonder about those who shout about "Big Oil doesn't pay tax!" I wonder if they realize ExxonMobil paid over $31 BILLION in taxes last year, the most by any US company. Followed by Chevron? With Apple a distant 3rd?
The RSS data set is about the most accurate we have, given it has a constant reference background (deep space), and covers the entire globe equally with the same set of instruments, and has done so for the last 35 years. And that record shows no warming for nearly 18 years.
One scientist, Don Easterbrook got it right. His model - based upon the cycles of the oceans - appears to fit the current pause quite nicely as well as matches the past. Perhaps he's on to something, in that his model more accurately tracks historical records AND the current situation than the IPCC/CO2 driven models.
Here in the US, the rail monopoly is established by the Federal Government. Cable provider monopolies are established by the local utility districts. In most cases, monopolies are established and enforced by the Governments, not by the businesses.
Slashdot Mirror
By "Republicans that rule this city" do you mean the City Council, or do you mean Ed Murray, the Mayor? Perhaps you mean the overall populace with its highly one-sided voting record?
Why do we have a federal Department of Education? Is there a set of common guidelines that apply uniformly for all school districts across These United States? A set of rules, goals, and guidelines that apply to inner-city Harlem, NY as well as ultra-rural American Falls, ID? Eliminate this Department, give the money back to the States, and be done with it.
Tesla's profits are not based on GAAP. Furthermore, if you remove their income from selling electric car credits, they lose a lot of money.
Tesla scares the bejesus out of the car companies because he could very well come in from the side and own the entire industry because he's already patented all the technology needed to actually build these cars.
Electric cars existed well before Tesla, and continue to exist outside of Tesla. Many of their patents are very niche focused, things like charging plugs (there are plenty of alternatives, used in high power connections for decades) or the like. As far as scaring, Tesla still hasn't turned a profit on their cars - they only "make" money if you include the Government redistribution of carbon taxes - which is set to expire in about 2 years. Tesla not making profit on their cars by then? Good luck after that...
Well, if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... Their actions do tend to look a lot like Jesse Jackson's "Rainbow Coalition", in that righteous indignation is aimed at a given highly valuable entity until said entity donates a lot of money, and then another entity is targeted - regardless of any real changes.
But that misses the point: trying to publicly shame Amazon into making a pro-Greenpeace statement and giving them a few hundred thousand dollars as penance...
It's a sad state of affairs in the USA that almost every public company, without question only looks as far as their next quarterly report, and no further down the road. This is why all these businesses are run by idiots that can't even tell you what their company even *does*, because they are so focused on manipulating the stock price and their personal bonuses.
One reason the Japanese kicked our asses in the 1980's is that they were looking at 10-year plans while the USA looked only to the next quarter. Now the Chinese are doing the same, with long-term strategies, and we continue to have not learned our lessons.
I don't doubt that long-term strategy is important, but focusing exclusively on that is the sure road to ruin. For example, the Japanese were kicking our asses in the 1980s. How did that turn out? To win at business, you need to maximize your current position without harming your future growth. It's a tough line to walk, but you need both - or you either kill your future for the present, or simply cannot survive to the future.
Taxes are down? The corporate tax rate hasn't changed in 20+ years in the US. Wages are definitely down, and tax receipts are down, but that's what happens when the entire economy turns down. But corporate tax rates are stable (and the highest in the G20).
Not thriving? The energy industry in the US is insanely profitable.
Interesting. How profitable is the US energy industry? Looking at the latest tax returns of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Texaco, it looks like they make about 7% return. I wouldn't call that insanely profitable at all...
Decibels used in SONAR are referenced to 1 microPascal; deciBels used in audio are referenced to 20 microPascals. Thus there is a 26 dB difference in level. A level of 140 dB underwater is the same as 114 dB SPL (in air). About a mid-level peak at an EDM club. Source: designing SONAR systems for scientific and fisheries research for the better part of a decade...
Replying just about your signature...
The money that has been taken has been backed with T-bills. Financially, it's as if the money was never taken out in the first place. Nevertheless, Social Security is now running in the red (drawing down on those T-bills) and will continue to do so until it's out of cash sometime in the next 20-25 years. Thus the talk about raising the tax rate, or lifting other exemptions (without raising the equivalent max benefit), or other means to increase funding without increasing expenses.
Social security is, in fact, behaving as a classic Ponzi scheme, except to keep the scheme going the schemer (US Federal Government in this case) is planning to charge late entries even higher rates to invest in the scheme. The problem is not use of funds now - the problem is structural. It will not survive long term without restructuring because it promises to pay out more than it receives - like a Ponzi scheme.
I'll take one that is *missing* a few parts for a fraction of the price.
You bet! Buy a 'bot, find the parts that are missing, print new ones, and...
Oh wait...
The Powers That Be have never frozen any of my accounts, but thugs have burglarized my house more than once.
Interestingly enough, I've had the TPTB freeze all my accounts, but have never had my house burglarized.
Seriously - why? There are less than 100,000 K-12 schools in the US, we're talking about $10,000 PER SCHOOL in the US, each year. I just upgraded my office (12 Ubiquiti access points, covering 45,000 square feet - probably about the average size of a school campus) to 150 Mbps down/65 Mbps up FiOS for $250 per month. Should cost less than $1000 for the hardware, and less than $3000 per year for the service. Where does the other $6,000 go - for the first year? And what about all the following years?
I see. We can't buy oil from other companies, nor alternate OSes. AT&T? That was Federally regulated monopoly until it was broken up.
When you do your work, do you routinely cut corners, lie, and make stuff up just to get your next paycheck? That's what you're claiming pretty much everyone else in private industry does...
So adjustments on the scale of what the IPCC is warning us about aren't anything to worry about? Hokay....
For the last 18 years, it was well established by the pro-AGW crowd that 17 years was needed for a signal. We have 18 years - and no signal. Not to mention the pro-AGW side likes to ignore the Medieval warm period, or the little ice age (the former being as warm - or warmer - than now).
As far as Professor Easterbrook, that "Skeptical Science" site has about as much reliability as the old Enzyte site pushing penis pills. A lot of handwaving and ignoring of facts... His predictions from the late 1990s were spot-on. He correctly predicted the current pause, and calls for us to enter a period of cooling. Well, we've got the pause - now to see if we get the cooling.
But I have met some engineers large enough to qualify as whales... Excessive Mountain Dew and Cheetos consumption builds blubber pretty darn fast!
Null hypothesis: Does human activity have no impact on the environment?
That's not the claim, however. The claim is that human activity impacts climate specifically, not just the environment (which can be as much as cutting your grass impacts the environment).
I usually ignore ACs, but your post is the standard rebuttal about "what subsidies?" and it's totally wrong...
1. Tax credit for paying foreign taxes. This is a "subsidy" as far as EVERY SINGLE COMPANY gets the same thing. If you pay $1 in income tax overseas, you do not have to pay that same $1 on the same income. It applies to profits earned overseas, and already taxed. ALL companies get this; if you want to call this an energy subsidy, then you can also call it a subsidy for renewables/solar/wind - because they get it as well (oh, and you can also say that every overseas US worker gets the subsidy because when they pay taxes on their overseas income, they get to deduct those paid taxes from the US taxes they owe).
2. Credit for alternative fuel production. Uhhh, you mean ALTERNATIVE energy credits? Yep - there's that dastardly Big Oil stealing the money from alternative energy to, uh, fund traditional oil/gas? Nope. It's for GREEN initiatives, like ethanol and the like. Fuels that would NOT be competitive on the market unless they are subsidized, fuels that are "green" and alternative. Why this is not included in the alternative energy subsidies I don't know - guess something had to stick somewhere?
3. Oil and gas exploration and expensing. I guess R&D for technology shouldn't be deductible. That land prep for farmers shouldn't be deductible. That planting new trees for tree farms shouldn't be deductible. That clearing land for solar and wind shouldn't be deductible. It's a standard business expense - R&D - that ALL BUSINESSES get to deduct.
Yep, some great list! Now, I wonder about those who shout about "Big Oil doesn't pay tax!" I wonder if they realize ExxonMobil paid over $31 BILLION in taxes last year, the most by any US company. Followed by Chevron? With Apple a distant 3rd?
Some temperature records are constantly adjusted in the past. Given that the history is constantly being revised - how do we know what the actual trends are?
The RSS data set is about the most accurate we have, given it has a constant reference background (deep space), and covers the entire globe equally with the same set of instruments, and has done so for the last 35 years. And that record shows no warming for nearly 18 years.
One scientist, Don Easterbrook got it right. His model - based upon the cycles of the oceans - appears to fit the current pause quite nicely as well as matches the past. Perhaps he's on to something, in that his model more accurately tracks historical records AND the current situation than the IPCC/CO2 driven models.
Er... The other?
Here in the US, the rail monopoly is established by the Federal Government. Cable provider monopolies are established by the local utility districts. In most cases, monopolies are established and enforced by the Governments, not by the businesses.
WHOA