FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: The Ultimate Tax on Harmful Activity?

Should the progressive income tax be switched to a progressive consumption tax?:

"Under a progressive consumption tax, each family would report its income to the IRS and also its annual savings, much as many now document their annual contributions to 401(k) and other similar accounts. A family's income minus its annual savings is its annual consumption, and that amount minus a large standard deduction—say, $30,000 for a family of four—would be its taxable consumption. Rates would start low, perhaps 20 percent, then rise gradually with total consumption. For example, a family that earned $60,000 and saved $10,000 would have annual consumption of $50,000, which, after subtracting the standard deduction, would mean taxable consumption of $20,000. It would owe about $4,000 in tax, about the same as under the current income tax."

I like pigovian taxes (taxing bad things to pay for good things), so I'm curious how this might compare to a carbon tax, for example.

Frank at fivethirtyeight follows up this post with more on the reaction and implications, one of the latter perhaps being a de-escalation in the "keeping up with the Joneses" that takes place in America. Sounds good to me.

Flat panel TV helps global warming?

If it wasn't enough to find out that LCD televisions are power hungry beasts, now we find out that you're helping contribute to global warming, too.

Manufacturers use a greenhouse gas called nitrogen trifluoride to make the televisions, and as the sets have become more popular, annual production of the gas has risen to about 4,000 tonnes.

As a driver of global warming, nitrogen trifluoride is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide, yet no one knows how much of it is being released into the atmosphere by the industry.

 I guess my old TV set is just fine...

Oil consumption mirrors economic growth

In a post on Peak Lite, Robert Rapier has an interesting chart showing how economic growth tends to be mirrored by an increase in per capita oil consumption. Makes you wonder what will happen in the coming years with $100 per barrel oil.

Every holiday is shopping holiday

I got an email newsletter from a tech company the other day about early Easter shopping for gifts. And this Lifehacker column asks about Valentine's gifts for geeks.

I'm sorry, but do we have any holidays where we do something other than shop?

Environmentally tracking your product: The Footprint Chronicles

Patagonia, an excellent outdoor gear organization, has had a longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability. Their straightforward and honest Footprint Chronicles allow you to track the earth impact of any of their products.

Thanks to Triple Pundit for the tip.

The Story of Stuff

An insightful, clever video on the cost of consumer society.

The "worth it" moment? For every pound of trash you toss, 70 pounds were created to make that product or packaging.

Damn.

Iran: energy policy isn't easy in an Islamist state, either

Energy policy to address global warming, technology, and higher gas prices isn't just the problem of the United States, although President Bush's meeting with the Big 3 automakers today suggests we have a long way to go (no, the proposed 4% per year increase in fuel efficiency standards was not discussed).

Iran's conflict with the United States and other Western powers also has to do with energy - primarily, the Iranians' dramatically increasing energy use. Demand for electricity and gasoline has been rising at double digit rates as government subsidies reduce any market pressure to conserve.

Image from the Wall Street Journal Story

Demand for electricity is rising along with the rest, as Iranians avail themselves of cheap imports of basic consumer goods from China - TVs, refrigerators, and air conditioning (with summer highs exceeding 110 F, I can understand why). Thus, Iran wants to develop nuclear energy since its fossil reserves clearly can't keep pace.

Ironically, Iran's energy crisis is a problem of political will. In addition to subsidizing gasoline to reduce prices to $0.40 per gallon, oil-exporter Iran has to import gasoline to meet this subsidized demand. With $7 billion spent on gasoline imports last year - Iran lacks sufficient refining capacity for its crude oil - and $9 billion projected this year, they know consumption must be curtailed. But in a country with one all-powerful Supreme Leader (See: Iranian government structure), cutting subsidies is apparently as hard as cutting Congressional pork projects in the United States.

This time, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the government is serious about cutting back consumption, though he acknowledged recently it's politically impossible to get rid of subsidies and raise pump prices the 40% to 50% that would require anytime soon. (emphasis mine)

And we thought leaders of democratic countries had it rough.

The final irony in the Iranian energy debacle is that the brinkmanship with the West might not be the economic hope they envision (although if it's nukes they want, they may not care). Uranium prices have increased ninefold since 2002 as demand for carbon-free energy has rejuvenated interest in nuclear power. In other words, there's no cheap solution to the energy crisis, whether it's more expensive nuclear power for Iran or carbon taxes in the United States.