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196 points triceratops | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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K0nserv ◴[] No.45109548[source]
The US, like most democracies, is worse at long term planning. It needs robust incentives to counteract short term instincts.

A $100/ton carbon tax would raise $490b(based on 4.9 billion tons of co2 emissions[0]) per year that could be distributed to lower income households (to offset the effect, making the tax progressive) and be used to fund green energy investment.

0: https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/united-states

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1. rhubarbtree ◴[] No.45112933[source]
I guess in democracies, because we have freedom, then you need to make change desirable.

In this case, you simply need to make renewable energy cheaper and the market will do the rest.

Governments can achieve this through R&D investment, tax incentives for such R&D, subsidies to enable scale if that’s where it’s heading, building infrastructure to reduce cost bases etc.

I guess this also requires _some_ medium term thinking. It also requires genuine desire from governments to improve the lives of their citizens and their countries, and I think that is severely lacking now that the west is in decline. Ruling parties are more likely to help themselves than to build a better future.