Comments on: What A Real Global Warming Insurance Policy Would Look Like

By: skh.pcola

skh.pcola — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:05:56 +0000

Increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 will almost certainly warm the Earth…

Or, certainly won’t, if historical data mean anything. CO2 lags increases in global temps by many hundreds of years. A better hypothesis is that higher atmospheric CO2 levels are a result of higher temps, not the other way around. To base any increase in energy costs (taxes, fees, etc.) on an easily disproved notion that CO2 affects climate is just statism and a form of fascism.

By: Noumenon

Noumenon — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:49:48 +0000

Either it raises the cost of electricity and fuel or it does not. If it does not, it has absolutely no benefits on Co2 production. If it does, then it is a tax.

For it to be a “tax” the government has to get the money. For example, the government could pass a law saying all customers have to pay 50 cents a kilowatt hour to the utility. That would raise the price of electricity without being a tax. Or the government could send out the National Guard to shoot anyone who tried to repair a power line. That would raise the cost of electricity, but no one would be saying “I have an idea for a tax cut — let’s stop shooting people!”

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:47:11 +0000

From what I’ve been reading on the costs from global warming, it is based on maintaining todays infrastructure 100 years from now. Just taking shipping as an example. Are we today using the boats and docks of 100 years ago? 100 years ago, were they using the boats and docks made 100 years previous? Do we really expect to be using the same boats and docks 100 years from now?

I’ve come across some economists that will admit that the AGW cost predictions are based on keeping the status quo, but that the likely costs will be small simple because people do what they always do, adapt.

By: Dr. T

Dr. T — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:44:45 +0000

I no longer enter into debates with global warming fanatics. Instead, I say this:

If the earth, for whatever reason, is warming, then there will be greater evaporation of water, more cloud formation, higher albedo (reflectance) for the planet, and less sunlight reaching the lower atmosphere and the earth resulting in cooler temperatures. Please explain what will prevent this simple feedback mechanism (described in detail on an MIT web site) from working.

If CO2 is causing warming (which is not a given), the MIT climatologists predict that the cloud-based feedback mechanism will overshoot slightly and result in cooler temperatures than before.