Pluto's not even a planet anymore!welcome to a plutocracy
Pluto's not even a planet anymore!welcome to a plutocracy
Subsidies aren't just to make the product cheaper, but to make sure that it's available period.I guess you are right but it still seems a little ridiculous, right? Essentially you are taking money away from the consumers and giving it to the producers. If the purpose of subsidizing production is to make the product available more cheaply then why not just drop the taxes and stop subsidizing? That would theoretically accomplish the same thing? I am sure the magnitude is different on the two ends and I am sure there are other reasons why it is not the same thing... But, it sounds like we are just running money in a circle through the government where the government overhead is going to suck up a bunch of it...
Because many products wouldn't be profitable without the subsidies.Subsidies aren't just to make the product cheaper, but to make sure that it's available period.
I understand that. So without the subsidies the manufacturers would have to raise their prices, making the products more expensive for the consumers. My point was, without the taxes the product prices would come back down - I don't know the relative magnitudes on either end so I don't know whether the net would make the products more or less expensive to the consumer but either way, for petroleum products, we have proven in the past that the demand is mostly independent of price - people aren't going to stop buying gas or stop heating their homes. So I don't think there is a danger of gasoline or other petroleum products becoming unavailable.Because many products wouldn't be profitable without the subsidies.
Hahaha... Again, it is a circle with the waste and overhead of government sucking out their share.The taxes help pay for the subsidies.
Not sure how you can say government is "sucking out their share" here. The subsidies go to business profits and keep the whole capitalism house of cards upright.Hahaha... Again, it is a circle with the waste and overhead of government sucking out their share.
The vast majority of government collected gas taxes help fund the roads people drive on. I don't think this is even close to a good example of "government sucking out their share." Seems like a user tax as well as the government maintaining something for the common good.Hahaha... Again, it is a circle with the waste and overhead of government sucking out their share.
What exactly is the government wasting here?Hahaha... Again, it is a circle with the waste and overhead of government sucking out their share.
Once again for the people in the backNot sure how you can say government is "sucking out their share" here. The subsidies go to business profits and keep the whole capitalism house of cards upright.
Do y'all really not understand the point? The gov is taking tax money from one group that is buying a commodity (making the commodity more expensive) and giving it to another group that is manufacturing the commodity (making the commodity cheaper). (I'm ignoring for the moment the portion of the tax money that is used to maintain and build roads - that is obviously important)What exactly is the government wasting here?
I feel like if you dwindle a lot of economic things down to just this type of analysis, you'd be shocked a lot. My general response would just be, there is more going on with gas tax and subsidies for fossil fuels than money just coming out of my pocket into BP's pocket.Do y'all really not understand the point? The gov is taking tax money from one group that is buying a commodity (making the commodity more expensive) and giving it to another group that is manufacturing the commodity (making the commodity cheaper).
Yeah I don't generally believe in subsidizing commodities.I am not about to craft an eloquent defense of oil and gas subsidies, I think they are insane. We should be making gas more expensive to produce and distribute not less. But I kind of hate the knee jerk response that government workers that collect the tax and distribute the revenue are "overhead" and "waste." Those people are working and filling a role to serve society and that's where most of the money the government "sucks" up goes. The subsidies are the wasteful part here not the workers collecting the taxes.
Republican candidates are asked to raise their hands if they believe in man-made climate change
No one is brave enough to do it
DeSantis deflects and Ramaswamy calls it a hoax
We’re fucked
You can delete the word "waste" if you like but the resources used to collect taxes and distribute subsidies are clearly overhead.I am not about to craft an eloquent defense of oil and gas subsidies, I think they are insane. We should be making gas more expensive to produce and distribute not less. But I kind of hate the knee jerk response that government workers that collect the tax and distribute the revenue are "overhead" and "waste." Those people are working and filling a role to serve society and that's where most of the money the government "sucks" up goes. The subsidies are the wasteful part here not the workers collecting the taxes.