My 1963 Mercury Comet Custom - a larger 4 door sedan - has a 260 cubic inch (4.3L) V8, auto transmission, factory radio and aftermarket stereo, and has the optional air conditioner (and the optional reverse lights, and the optional seat belts). Curb weight is 2380 pounds with 5 gallons in the 12 gallon tank (had to get it measured to renew my tabs here in Washington State). This is with a 45 year old iron small block under the hood.
Oh, and it gets around 25 MPG in the city (a bit less on the highway - short gears), loaded or empty. Loaded being with six 6 foot, 200 pound people.
Excellent point... My 1963 Mercury Comet Custom (with the 260 cubic inch V8 and 4 barrel carb - 4.3L for you modern engine people) weighs in at an astounding 2380 pounds. I never realized that was less than a 2008 Civic, let alone 100 kg less! And this is a 4 door car, comfortably seats 6 (big bench seats), has a small block V8, and gets 24-25 MPG around town (not so good on the highway - short gears).
Weight and aerodynamics are the enemies, not overall body size or number of cylinders in the engine.
And besides, the rumble of a well-tuned V8 exhausting through some nice Flowmasters just is SO nice...:)
I don't know, the fact that a vast minority complain about copy protection tells me that for the most part the publishers are OK with the state of things, and that most of the buying public really doesn't care that much...
You could make the same complaint about any service.
OR - we could treat software not as a service but something I call a "product". Where people pay to buy finished "products" that they can use. Where they can read the comments of others who have used the "product" in things I'll call "reviews".
I know, silly me... Software as a product! It'll never work...
Making copies isn't the hard part; designing the game in the first place is. But they'd rather charge for copies than for the labor of game design... probably because they want to "strike it rich" if the game becomes a runaway hit. Instead of being paid for the amount of work they put in, like everyone else, they want to be paid based on the number of people who end up enjoying the game.
Then how do the developers get paid? I know, they work for a company, but that company must make money somehow. Where does that money come from if not from sales of the product?
NO ONE will pay the $10 million to develop the game; the hope is that there are at least 1 million people willing to pony up at least $10 each to own a copy of the game...
RTFA. This is used as a traveler-selected alternative to a pat-down when selected for a secondary screening. Your choice is a pat-down or a scan. It's not for the vast majority of travelers.
How is this different than a tool factory using a CNC machine to make CNC machine parts? You know, something that's done millions of times every day, for the last couple of decades...
Look, fundamentally I believe the Government that governs least governs best. And that Government usually is not the solution to the problem, but IS the problem.
That poor schmuck born in the ghetto? That was ME. That was MY FAMILY. We were dirt poor - not figuratively, but literally. Try living out of a 1967 Country Squire station wagon with a brother, sister, and mother for 2 months. Shopping at Goodwill because it was what you could afford. Delivering papers at 10 years old so you can have milk for the week. Getting the opportunity to attend Catholic high school because of good grades - good grades alone - because my grandparents drilled into me that the value of a man is only what he makes of himself, that you have to do what you must to get ahead. There are no free meals. And working 3-4 hours a day after school to earn the money to pay for it.
That ghetto kid is the one who now is comfortable in his life, who works productively. Who has patents to his name, and benefits mightily from working with "evil multinational corporations". I never had anything given to me other than my bastard birth (yes, out of wedlock) and the slap on my ass when I entered this life.
The similarities between us are, I surmise, quite limited. Our stations in life came from different ends. And I look at what I have done - and those around me who also came from similar stations as mine - and see that the tyranny of "compassion" and the "War on Poverty" do much more harm - irreparable harm - to the poorest among us than having no such War to begin.
Few things for you to consider: the DOD budget is $480 billion - see page 4 of that PDF. That's a fact. You can argue all you want, but you're wrong. We spend the same on education as we do on Defense - you've been brainwashed by all those "if only the DOD had to hold bake sales and the schools didn't!" bumperstickers. Defense is a Constitutional mandate, direct. Education? For the first 204 years of our country the Department of Education didn't even exist. How you can equate the two shows your disdain for the Constitution and formation of this country.
Yes, those Hamptons folks. The vast majority of whom did not get their money from inheritance but from work and reward. The class envy you try to espouse in your pot-shots at their wealth is quite revealing. How much should any one man make? Can you place a number on it? Do you realize that by simply placing that number you have, in effect, stated your own degree of socialism and fascism?
You judge a man by what he has and whether you see it as "fair", and expect to be able to regulate his payment according to your beliefs. In your eyes, he is not free to negotiate for compensation that he desires, nor to gather the fruits of his labor. You - via actions of the State as espoused by Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama - wish to force that man to accept only what you deem is fair, which means you then make him subservient, and take from him the fundamental Rights upon which this country was founded.
Economics IS the fundamental access for Liberty. Without it, other rights are worthless. Desires to place restraint on the free market (which we do not have; it is heavily burdened with regulation by the State) is a fascist/socialist desire. You are impinging the fundamental Rights of man with such actions. Ultimately it is the Machiavellian "ends justify the means" claim that fascists like you hold up to explain and assuage your feelings regarding your actions.
Sir Winston Churchill summed it up best with the following quotes:
Let's see - I worked my way through Catholic high school (yes, the Brothers allowed me to pay my tuition throughout the year as I earned my own funds as a paperboy, janitor, pizza cook). I worked my way through college (well, that and $20,000 in loans subsequently paid off). I worked for a huge company and got laid off when it was bought out 5 years after I started, then worked for a small company and got fired when the new owner and I didn't see eye-to-eye about how to run the engineering department, and then hung my own shingle.
In the ensuing years I've patented a few ideas and make money by licensing them and providing acoustics engineering. I am a gun for hire, a consultant and contractor out to the highest bidder. And in the mean time have started a few companies, purchased a house, cars, have a good retirement saved up, and generally don't lack for material goods. Health insurance is paid, I take vacations when I want, and take care of those I care for.
I'm just an individual, working-class stiff who's actually made good, worked my way up, and now count companies like Microsoft, Dell, Harman, and Flextronics as my clients. I find that most of the problems I encounter on my job are related to Government interference, regulations, and taxation.
I also see that 45% or more of every penny I make goes to that same Government, and that same Government has used my own dollars in unfairly attacking me over their own mistake regarding taxes. I have dealt with the inequity that Government brings, and seen how the bigger companies have greatly reduced issues in resolving those same problems. And I do not fault the companies for their success, nor the easier treatment received from that Government; rather I fault that Government that presses hardest on those least able to defend themselves, and uses that power wantonly and willfuly to ensure their own power.
No, I see myself as rather ordinary, having been the first of any in my family to attend college, let alone graduate. As a grandson of immigrants, one who has built up businesses - in the US and abroad including in South America (Chile) - which turned the crank of industry and created real wealth; wealth to employ staff, acquire assets, expand operations. And as at first a victim of a clerical mistake that turned into a multi-year battle to force the Government to admit their error, all the while with that same Government restricting the use of my own assets to defend myself. As one who has sat opposite an Internal Revenue Officer - a veritable ward of the State - and had him state that it was incomprehensiblethat I would use my own assets tobuild my business, and cover the times that were lean.
No, I don't see any inconsistency in my thoughts. Two of the Presidential candidates - of which will be whittled to one quite shortly - tell me that I can expect that they will use the Government to take things from me for the "Common Good"; that what I have is because of the Government, not in spite of it. That I - who live in a middle-class neighborhood as a middle-class person - am rich and to be persecuted. That it is not the choice of my employees and me about how we wish to compensate ourselves, but that our contract must not be made of free will but by regulations and enforcement and approval of that same Government.
And I see those same Candidates of the Left demanding that ExxonMobil and "Evil Big Oil" be penalized for "windfall profits" when in fact the profit margin is not high, and that same Government earns thrice from the company what it allows the company to keep.
I look at this as class warfare. There are defeatists like yourself who rail "against the MAN keeping me down!", and decry their "inability" to gain position in life. Who fall prey to envy and covet the possessions and attainments of others. Who will support the use of Force - via the Arms of the Government - to take from others without due process nor right.
I go by the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. I am not guaranteed happiness, nor success, nor a comfortable life or wealth. I am guaranteed the right to strive towards those things.
I judge liberty and freedom by what you can do, not what you achieve. Achievement is dependent upon the individual; freedom is inherent and separate from individuals as it is the concept.
/* mini-rant-ahead
As far as education being a Federal duty, I'd heartily reject it. I believe most of the problems with the American education system arose after further Federalist intervention in the system. The issue is that we spend more and more with worse and worse "returns". Education quality drifts down, while spending accelerates. And when asked how much money is enough money, the education lobby simply shouts "IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN!".
Jim Jones fed the children in Guyana cyanide, but that didn't mean it was good for them.
OK, you basically agree with what I wrote... The right wing attempts to increase liberty by ceding power to the individuals and their associations (corporations), and the left wing attempts to regulate and restrict liberty and bend corporations to do the will of the State (fascism).
Who determines "the Public Interest" other than the Government? How is that not fascist? The public interest must cede to the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The individual is paramount, "Public Interest" is second tier and subservient to the individual.
Fascism is the State controlling the corporations; letting the corporations operate with freedom and liberty is called capitalism, and it seems to work quite well when allowed to actually flourish. Government can do nothing BUT restrict capitalism by its interference in the capitalistic system (acting as a throttle and impediment to the growth of capital).
I think Winston Churchill put it best. Capitalism guarantees unequal success. Socialism (fascism) guarantees equal misery.
Problem is, when you get too big and make "too much profit" you get whacked by the Government. Witness ExxonMobil - $400 billion in sales, and $40 billion in profit. "Windfall profits", and threats of raised tax rates. Never mind they also pour over $100 billion in direct taxation into that same Government, meaning it profits a LOT more than EXO.
At this point, you're either too small to worry about, or big enough to be over-regulated, targeted, and squashed. You can't be a Corporate Citizen - you can only be a cash source for the Government.
Fascism is corporatism - a merging of the State and corporations. It seems to me that when the liberals call for tighter control on corporations, for "windfall profits" taxes because no company or person really needs to make that much, and calls for ever tighter restrictions not just on what a company cannot do but what they MUST do, then you have a de-facto demand that the State and the corporation align - become one.
That is fascism, as defined by the creator of the term (Mussolini). I see a lot more calls for fascist behavior from the political leaders of the left than I do of the politicians of the right, who typically want as little State interference with companies as possible...
Thanks. The sad reality that so many refuse to acknowledge is that Congress could - tomorrow, if they wanted - cut $1 per gallon of gas. Simply cut the direct and indirect Federal taxation of oil.
Congress bloviates about the "excess profits" of the oil companies, but refuse to acknowledge that Congress is the BIGGEST beneficiary of those same profits. Fully $500 BILLION - 1/6th of the US Federal budget - comes from those big 5 oil companies who are being scapegoated.
Apparently the "troll-marker" prefers to be ignorant of the actual facts, an believes that Comrade Congressman will look out for him better than "evil corporations". He fails to realize that Big Government is not only self-motivated for its own existence, but by writ of law and threat of force cannot be shut down or penalized (hey, fine the government for billions! They just use threat of force to take the money back from us).
I know that action is taken quite often; here's afew examples of such violations. Contrary to conventional wisdom, boards tend to draw the line at violating the articles of incorporation, as their own stakes - their own interests - live and die with the corporation. You'll usually see those guilty of such actions readily served up by the company - witness Ken Lay, the Rigas', and many others. The board will look for their own interests, and those usually align with the majority of the stockholders (since they're elected by the stockholders).
Bravo. Well put... Laws or actions targeted at single entities (or a small, select class like those deemed making "windfall profits") are unconstitutional, equal protection clause and all...
Those "charters" still exist, except in the US we call them articles of incorporation. Violating these articles can lead to penalties up to and including dissolution of the corporation.
concerted 'middle finger' aimed at Exxon/Mobile/etc, their excessive first quarter profits, and the like.
Yes, those excessive profits. Never mind that for every $1 in profit EXO makes they pay $3 in taxes. So let's really aim that 'middle finger' squarely where it belongs - the Government.
Insurance? OK, let's increase the subsidies to nuclear by a factor of 10 and call that insurance. Still only at 60% of what solar and wind get...
Not a lot of oil is used for electrical generation, but a LOT of natural gas is. And that gas comes from the big oil companies. That's why it's lumped as it is.
Finally, the subsidies being granted are on the order of a couple of cents per kilowatt hour. So a complete conversion to, say, wind power would be huge in absolute terms, we're talking about paying 30% more for our electricity, max. That's a small price to pay for energy independence and a reduction of greenhouse gases.
You may want to reconsider this line... Replace coal and oil with wind and solar and we're looking at another few hundred billion a year in subsidies alone. Not to mention needing to keep some of the coal and oil on-line for baseload capacity.
And we still haven't addressed energy independence - most of the petroleum products we import goes to transportation, not electrical generation (which is nearly exclusively domestic natural gas). So we'll pay hundreds of billions more per year for electrical, and still have to import most of our oil. Seems like a bad tradeoff...
I submit that the wise choice would be to keep researching wind and solar until we can get it's cost of production down an order of magnitude from where it is now. Then we can look at converting over. Trying to convert before then is simply a waste of money and will not yield any significant gains (as we'll want to replace these early, low-efficiency installations with the higher efficiency units as quickly as possible).
In other words, don't take an R&D project, declare it ready for prime-time, and ship it. Wait until it's actually a viable solution.
- Total revenues of $404 billion
- Sales based taxes of $31.7 billion
- Other taxes and duties of $41 billion
- Income taxes of $29.9 billion
That's a total of $102.6 billion in taxes on revenues of $404 billion, or a little over 25% of revenue.
Now look at their net income: $40.6 billion. Meaning that for every buck of taxes and profit, EXO gets to keep $0.28 and the Government gets $0.72. Even if you look at just income tax on gross profit, you're looking at a 42% tax rate.
EXO pays a LOT more taxation than most people realize. Understand that $100 billion is more than 40% of all the individual taxpayers in the US - COMBINED. And those "windfall profits" they're getting? Seems that the Feds are getting a LOT more windfall than EXO.
As far as return goes, they're not make 32% - they're making, at best, 10%. Sell $400 billion, keep $40 billion. That's a far cry from 32%...
For the environmental damage, let's charge wind with the damage from mining all that copper, steel and aluminum. Solar with the chemicals needed to make them. Both with the oil needed to run their systems, and on and on... If you want to get extreme, you can make ANYTHING look bad.
The fundamental point is that solar and wind - as they exist today - are FAR from economically viable. And the supposed boogyman of "Big Oil" is getting 1/100th of the subsidies of wind and solar, in terms of payments versus output gained.
By all means, I support research into wind and solar, but to foist it upon us before it's economically viable is insanity. Keep researching, and when you can get the subsidies down to the range of nuclear ($1.59 per MWhr) then we can consider it...
Slashdot Mirror
I just want to say your posts are a brief moment of clarity in this otherwise clouded story and thread. Thank you.
Oh, and it gets around 25 MPG in the city (a bit less on the highway - short gears), loaded or empty. Loaded being with six 6 foot, 200 pound people.
Weight comes from more than just the engine...
Weight and aerodynamics are the enemies, not overall body size or number of cylinders in the engine.
And besides, the rumble of a well-tuned V8 exhausting through some nice Flowmasters just is SO nice...:)
I don't know, the fact that a vast minority complain about copy protection tells me that for the most part the publishers are OK with the state of things, and that most of the buying public really doesn't care that much...
OR - we could treat software not as a service but something I call a "product". Where people pay to buy finished "products" that they can use. Where they can read the comments of others who have used the "product" in things I'll call "reviews".
I know, silly me... Software as a product! It'll never work...
No. In fact, most of the e-Ticket kiosks only need your confirmation number that you were e-mailed to get your boarding pass. No proof of ID required.
Then how do the developers get paid? I know, they work for a company, but that company must make money somehow. Where does that money come from if not from sales of the product?
NO ONE will pay the $10 million to develop the game; the hope is that there are at least 1 million people willing to pony up at least $10 each to own a copy of the game...
RTFA. This is used as a traveler-selected alternative to a pat-down when selected for a secondary screening. Your choice is a pat-down or a scan. It's not for the vast majority of travelers.
How is this different than a tool factory using a CNC machine to make CNC machine parts? You know, something that's done millions of times every day, for the last couple of decades...
But do they have lasers on their heads?
That poor schmuck born in the ghetto? That was ME. That was MY FAMILY. We were dirt poor - not figuratively, but literally. Try living out of a 1967 Country Squire station wagon with a brother, sister, and mother for 2 months. Shopping at Goodwill because it was what you could afford. Delivering papers at 10 years old so you can have milk for the week. Getting the opportunity to attend Catholic high school because of good grades - good grades alone - because my grandparents drilled into me that the value of a man is only what he makes of himself, that you have to do what you must to get ahead. There are no free meals. And working 3-4 hours a day after school to earn the money to pay for it.
That ghetto kid is the one who now is comfortable in his life, who works productively. Who has patents to his name, and benefits mightily from working with "evil multinational corporations". I never had anything given to me other than my bastard birth (yes, out of wedlock) and the slap on my ass when I entered this life.
The similarities between us are, I surmise, quite limited. Our stations in life came from different ends. And I look at what I have done - and those around me who also came from similar stations as mine - and see that the tyranny of "compassion" and the "War on Poverty" do much more harm - irreparable harm - to the poorest among us than having no such War to begin.
Few things for you to consider: the DOD budget is $480 billion - see page 4 of that PDF. That's a fact. You can argue all you want, but you're wrong. We spend the same on education as we do on Defense - you've been brainwashed by all those "if only the DOD had to hold bake sales and the schools didn't!" bumperstickers. Defense is a Constitutional mandate, direct. Education? For the first 204 years of our country the Department of Education didn't even exist. How you can equate the two shows your disdain for the Constitution and formation of this country.
Yes, those Hamptons folks. The vast majority of whom did not get their money from inheritance but from work and reward. The class envy you try to espouse in your pot-shots at their wealth is quite revealing. How much should any one man make? Can you place a number on it? Do you realize that by simply placing that number you have, in effect, stated your own degree of socialism and fascism?
You judge a man by what he has and whether you see it as "fair", and expect to be able to regulate his payment according to your beliefs. In your eyes, he is not free to negotiate for compensation that he desires, nor to gather the fruits of his labor. You - via actions of the State as espoused by Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama - wish to force that man to accept only what you deem is fair, which means you then make him subservient, and take from him the fundamental Rights upon which this country was founded.
Economics IS the fundamental access for Liberty. Without it, other rights are worthless. Desires to place restraint on the free market (which we do not have; it is heavily burdened with regulation by the State) is a fascist/socialist desire. You are impinging the fundamental Rights of man with such actions. Ultimately it is the Machiavellian "ends justify the means" claim that fascists like you hold up to explain and assuage your feelings regarding your actions.
Sir Winston Churchill summed it up best with the following quotes:
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
Let's see - I worked my way through Catholic high school (yes, the Brothers allowed me to pay my tuition throughout the year as I earned my own funds as a paperboy, janitor, pizza cook). I worked my way through college (well, that and $20,000 in loans subsequently paid off). I worked for a huge company and got laid off when it was bought out 5 years after I started, then worked for a small company and got fired when the new owner and I didn't see eye-to-eye about how to run the engineering department, and then hung my own shingle.
In the ensuing years I've patented a few ideas and make money by licensing them and providing acoustics engineering. I am a gun for hire, a consultant and contractor out to the highest bidder. And in the mean time have started a few companies, purchased a house, cars, have a good retirement saved up, and generally don't lack for material goods. Health insurance is paid, I take vacations when I want, and take care of those I care for.
I'm just an individual, working-class stiff who's actually made good, worked my way up, and now count companies like Microsoft, Dell, Harman, and Flextronics as my clients. I find that most of the problems I encounter on my job are related to Government interference, regulations, and taxation.
I also see that 45% or more of every penny I make goes to that same Government, and that same Government has used my own dollars in unfairly attacking me over their own mistake regarding taxes. I have dealt with the inequity that Government brings, and seen how the bigger companies have greatly reduced issues in resolving those same problems. And I do not fault the companies for their success, nor the easier treatment received from that Government; rather I fault that Government that presses hardest on those least able to defend themselves, and uses that power wantonly and willfuly to ensure their own power.
No, I see myself as rather ordinary, having been the first of any in my family to attend college, let alone graduate. As a grandson of immigrants, one who has built up businesses - in the US and abroad including in South America (Chile) - which turned the crank of industry and created real wealth; wealth to employ staff, acquire assets, expand operations. And as at first a victim of a clerical mistake that turned into a multi-year battle to force the Government to admit their error, all the while with that same Government restricting the use of my own assets to defend myself. As one who has sat opposite an Internal Revenue Officer - a veritable ward of the State - and had him state that it was incomprehensiblethat I would use my own assets tobuild my business, and cover the times that were lean.
No, I don't see any inconsistency in my thoughts. Two of the Presidential candidates - of which will be whittled to one quite shortly - tell me that I can expect that they will use the Government to take things from me for the "Common Good"; that what I have is because of the Government, not in spite of it. That I - who live in a middle-class neighborhood as a middle-class person - am rich and to be persecuted. That it is not the choice of my employees and me about how we wish to compensate ourselves, but that our contract must not be made of free will but by regulations and enforcement and approval of that same Government.
And I see those same Candidates of the Left demanding that ExxonMobil and "Evil Big Oil" be penalized for "windfall profits" when in fact the profit margin is not high, and that same Government earns thrice from the company what it allows the company to keep.
I look at this as class warfare. There are defeatists like yourself who rail "against the MAN keeping me down!", and decry their "inability" to gain position in life. Who fall prey to envy and covet the possessions and attainments of others. Who will support the use of Force - via the Arms of the Government - to take from others without due process nor right.
That is the antith
I judge liberty and freedom by what you can do, not what you achieve. Achievement is dependent upon the individual; freedom is inherent and separate from individuals as it is the concept.
As far as education being a Federal duty, I'd heartily reject it. I believe most of the problems with the American education system arose after further Federalist intervention in the system. The issue is that we spend more and more with worse and worse "returns". Education quality drifts down, while spending accelerates. And when asked how much money is enough money, the education lobby simply shouts "IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN!".
Jim Jones fed the children in Guyana cyanide, but that didn't mean it was good for them.
*/ end-mini-rant
Who determines "the Public Interest" other than the Government? How is that not fascist? The public interest must cede to the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The individual is paramount, "Public Interest" is second tier and subservient to the individual.
Fascism is the State controlling the corporations; letting the corporations operate with freedom and liberty is called capitalism, and it seems to work quite well when allowed to actually flourish. Government can do nothing BUT restrict capitalism by its interference in the capitalistic system (acting as a throttle and impediment to the growth of capital).
I think Winston Churchill put it best. Capitalism guarantees unequal success. Socialism (fascism) guarantees equal misery.
At this point, you're either too small to worry about, or big enough to be over-regulated, targeted, and squashed. You can't be a Corporate Citizen - you can only be a cash source for the Government.
That is fascism, as defined by the creator of the term (Mussolini). I see a lot more calls for fascist behavior from the political leaders of the left than I do of the politicians of the right, who typically want as little State interference with companies as possible...
Congress bloviates about the "excess profits" of the oil companies, but refuse to acknowledge that Congress is the BIGGEST beneficiary of those same profits. Fully $500 BILLION - 1/6th of the US Federal budget - comes from those big 5 oil companies who are being scapegoated.
Apparently the "troll-marker" prefers to be ignorant of the actual facts, an believes that Comrade Congressman will look out for him better than "evil corporations". He fails to realize that Big Government is not only self-motivated for its own existence, but by writ of law and threat of force cannot be shut down or penalized (hey, fine the government for billions! They just use threat of force to take the money back from us).
I know that action is taken quite often; here's a few examples of such violations. Contrary to conventional wisdom, boards tend to draw the line at violating the articles of incorporation, as their own stakes - their own interests - live and die with the corporation. You'll usually see those guilty of such actions readily served up by the company - witness Ken Lay, the Rigas', and many others. The board will look for their own interests, and those usually align with the majority of the stockholders (since they're elected by the stockholders).
Bravo. Well put... Laws or actions targeted at single entities (or a small, select class like those deemed making "windfall profits") are unconstitutional, equal protection clause and all...
Those "charters" still exist, except in the US we call them articles of incorporation. Violating these articles can lead to penalties up to and including dissolution of the corporation.
Yes, those excessive profits. Never mind that for every $1 in profit EXO makes they pay $3 in taxes. So let's really aim that 'middle finger' squarely where it belongs - the Government.
A pencil? May I suggest something to help grow that pencil to something more substantial...
Huh. Learned something new - thanks! I always thought Salami Attack was a bad 80s porn movie...
Not a lot of oil is used for electrical generation, but a LOT of natural gas is. And that gas comes from the big oil companies. That's why it's lumped as it is.
Finally, the subsidies being granted are on the order of a couple of cents per kilowatt hour. So a complete conversion to, say, wind power would be huge in absolute terms, we're talking about paying 30% more for our electricity, max. That's a small price to pay for energy independence and a reduction of greenhouse gases.
You may want to reconsider this line... Replace coal and oil with wind and solar and we're looking at another few hundred billion a year in subsidies alone. Not to mention needing to keep some of the coal and oil on-line for baseload capacity.
And we still haven't addressed energy independence - most of the petroleum products we import goes to transportation, not electrical generation (which is nearly exclusively domestic natural gas). So we'll pay hundreds of billions more per year for electrical, and still have to import most of our oil. Seems like a bad tradeoff...
I submit that the wise choice would be to keep researching wind and solar until we can get it's cost of production down an order of magnitude from where it is now. Then we can look at converting over. Trying to convert before then is simply a waste of money and will not yield any significant gains (as we'll want to replace these early, low-efficiency installations with the higher efficiency units as quickly as possible).
In other words, don't take an R&D project, declare it ready for prime-time, and ship it. Wait until it's actually a viable solution.
- Total revenues of $404 billion
- Sales based taxes of $31.7 billion
- Other taxes and duties of $41 billion
- Income taxes of $29.9 billion
That's a total of $102.6 billion in taxes on revenues of $404 billion, or a little over 25% of revenue.
Now look at their net income: $40.6 billion. Meaning that for every buck of taxes and profit, EXO gets to keep $0.28 and the Government gets $0.72. Even if you look at just income tax on gross profit, you're looking at a 42% tax rate.
EXO pays a LOT more taxation than most people realize. Understand that $100 billion is more than 40% of all the individual taxpayers in the US - COMBINED. And those "windfall profits" they're getting? Seems that the Feds are getting a LOT more windfall than EXO.
As far as return goes, they're not make 32% - they're making, at best, 10%. Sell $400 billion, keep $40 billion. That's a far cry from 32%...
For the environmental damage, let's charge wind with the damage from mining all that copper, steel and aluminum. Solar with the chemicals needed to make them. Both with the oil needed to run their systems, and on and on... If you want to get extreme, you can make ANYTHING look bad.
The fundamental point is that solar and wind - as they exist today - are FAR from economically viable. And the supposed boogyman of "Big Oil" is getting 1/100th of the subsidies of wind and solar, in terms of payments versus output gained.
By all means, I support research into wind and solar, but to foist it upon us before it's economically viable is insanity. Keep researching, and when you can get the subsidies down to the range of nuclear ($1.59 per MWhr) then we can consider it...