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Are automobiles a major cause of global warming?

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Comments

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    They didn't like mandatory seat belts or other safety stuff either.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    Of course, those don't require gigantic amounts of infrastructure that neither consumers nor governments can afford to install.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    We just need to shift the subsidies a bit. (Oil Change International)
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    If any of you saw the movie, "Independence Day", a few years ago, there was a scene where the aliens blew up the capitol building in D.C.

    I'll bet if that movie had come out this year, everyone in the theatre would have jumped up and cheered!! :)

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I swear Liberals are REALLY STUPID. A tax deduction is NOT a subsidy. It is the cost of doing business. It has ALWAYS been that way and it is for every business. Not just the ones targeted by eco nuts. From your link. A few years ago we could buy large vehicles and write them off 100% first year to stimulate the sale of large vehicles. It was money spent and deducted. Makes no difference if it is in one year or 100 years. It is a legitimate deduction and NOT a subsidy. If people that write blogs like you posted use any kind of transportation, utility etc that is powered by fossil fuel they are hypocrites of the vilest kind.

    Special tax rules apply to these investments that are unique to the refining industry. Title 179C of the tax code allows the refining companies to deduct the value of these investments from their tax returns at a highly accelerated rate. Rather than spread the expense over the life time of the equipment, say 20-30 years, the refiners are allowed to expense (i.e., deduct from their taxable income) 50% in the first year and expense the rest through the next 9 years.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited March 2013
    Of course it's a subsidy. Look at the tax exempt NFL and tell me that's not a subsidy, not to mention the stadium deals they get. Do away with a deduction and listen to the special interests scream.

    One person's legitimate deduction is another's government giveaway. Who says we need special tax rules for refining? (Other than the refiners that is, LOL).

    The really dumb one was the depletion allowance that went away back in the 70s or so.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    One person's legitimate deduction is another's government giveaway.

    Absolutely true. The mortgage interest or child deductions are both unfair to a renter with no kids. We just went to our CPA yesterday. The tax code for 2012 is still not completed by the IRS. The complexity is mind boggling. So yes you can pick and choose which deductions you think are good or bad. It comes down to the Feds are the ones that make the rules. I consider the $7500 tax credit for the rich to buy their EV toys a sham. Not to mention the C4C boondoggle. That has turned out to be an environmental nightmare.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    It wouldn't be a loss, would it. Who would mourn? :shades:
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    Or maybe curtail them all, instead of employing our bizarre version of socialism that favors the highest bidding industry (oil, FIRE industries, defense, trickle down garbage, et al).
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    Most of that could be fixed with a simple flat tax. Get rid of the entire tax code and replace it with a post card. "Please send in 15 percent of your income. Thank you."

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Flat tax is a fair tax. The folks running this country are NOT interested in fair taxation. They go for those in the middle that don't have the resources to fight them. Buffett and company have owed $2 billion for years. They have a huge staff of tax attorneys paid well to beat US out of tax. Same for GE and all the other corps that get fat gifts from the Feds and pay no taxes.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited March 2013
    Please send in 15 percent of your income.

    Can't wait for the finagling over what's defined as "income". And is that based on payroll or "wealth"? What about pass through of stuff that already been taxed, like corporate dividends? What about operating expenses (unless you intend to not tax businesses)?

    Michigan has a flat state income tax (4.3%). So those with less income pay (most everyone in the UP) pay a higher proportion of their income in total taxes than most of those in Bloomfield Hills (which ranks in the top five wealthiest small US cities).

    Bloomfield Hills is 25 miles from Detroit and home to the gentleman who ran American Motors. AMC designed a nickel-cadmium battery powered Rambler station wagon. Way back in 1969. :-)

    44 years later you can buy battery powered cars. In another 44 years, maybe we'll have a reformed tax structure, lol.
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    In another 44 years that postcard will read, "What was your income, please send it in. Thank you."

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    The gold's buried in the Rambler under the septic field. :shades:
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I think Porsche outdoes AMC by 69 years. They still build the finest sports cars on the planet.

    In 1900 Prof. Ferdinand Porsche unveiled his Lohner Porsche, an electric car with wheel-hub motors driving the front wheels. Soon after, this car featured all-wheel drive and four-wheel brakes, another world first. A highlight of his early years as an automotive designer was the Lohner-Porsche Semper Vivus that went down in history 111 years ago as the first functional hybrid car.http://press.porsche.com/news/release.php?id=642

    I could live with 4.3% state income tax. CA is about 11% now. Which does bring down a person's AGI making less Federal tax. So CA is effectively stealing money from the rest of the citizens of the USA with their higher income tax. The key is where the income is derived? If income is LTCG some one in Bloomfield may pay a smaller proportion. If it is regular income the fat cat will pay a higher proportion (percentage) of his income. You frugal cats in the UP may end up with a higher proportion of your gross income than the fatcat in Bloomfield that is way over extended on house and fancy foreign cars. Living within one's budget is much more stress free.
    This explains where we are today in the USA.

    http://www.youtube.com/embed/Li0no7O9zmE
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    My "Michigan" AGI is higher than my federal AGI since I have to add back in half of my self employment taxes onto the Michigan form that I get to take off on the fed IRS. At least mine are done.

    And there's a difference between someone who has the option to be a bit frugal by choice and someone like my next door neighbor who lost his job when the business he worked for shut down. He's one of those who got extended unemployment benefits and some school tuition that folks in here complained about the other day. If he has to bail out for ND (unlikely since he's my age), his empty house will drag down my property values. I can already see two uninhabited houses from my house, including one condemned one. Just another example of how having a social safety net helps my personal bottom line.

    Back to cars, AMC contracted with someone to work on lithium batteries two years earlier than their e-vehicle, so that was 1967.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I think all the various batteries have a long history. First Generation of the GM EV-1 used Lead Acid. The later versions adapted the NiMH batteries, which to my way of thinking are still superior to any of the Li-ion batteries. The Leaf is already experiencing longevity problems with their Li-ions.

    As far as examples of people suffering from job losses, I am surrounded by them here. Most of the extended unemployment is gone and people are trying to get on welfare. Without little mouths it is near impossible. I recommended Rocky head over to ND, and he did not think it was a good idea. So he is living at home. No real job prospects. The safety net should include jobs. Even WPA type jobs if you could get anyone to work like they did in the depression. Doubtful.
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    We are under our 3rd Winter storm warning in the last month. In the first 2 we got about a foot of snow each time, maybe a little more. We are now a few days into Spring, and currently it is snowing heavily and we could get another foot of snow before this ends sometime tomorrow.

    I know that all the GW conspiracy folks will say that all this snow is caused by global warming, and somehow they will do it with a straight face. I can't believe there are still sheep who believe these lying bandits.

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited March 2013
    You forgot the greedy part. :shades: (Washington Post)

    The latest juxtaposition are the fires last week north of Denver that caused hundreds of evacuations followed by an unusual blizzard yesterday in Denver during the FIFA soccer match. (Quartz)
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    Yes, first it was global warming. Then, when everyone began to realize that there actually was no global warming, it suddenly became climate change.

    Give it a couple more years and it will change to global cooling. Oh the humanity. The ice at the North Pole will become so thick the earth will surely tip over.

    The only way to save the earth will be to spend billions to have hundreds of scientists do more useless studies to assess the situation.

    Al Gore is licking his chops. :)

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    What, you were expecting a calmly reasoned argument from a film called “Greedy Lying Bastards”?

    Just more sheep fodder.

    Al Gore is out campaigning for his carbon credits again. I am sure enthused about having the highest priced utilities in the country as a result of Al Gore the charlatan.

    "Yet a carbon tax, which has all those characteristics, is struggling to find support from the US administration or in Congress. It deserves much wider enthusiasm."

    http://blog.algore.com/2013/03/time_has_come_for_a_carbon_tax.html
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    When it's warm out, blame global warming. When it's cold out, blame global warming. When Gore adds 5000 sq ft to his energy guzzling mansion, blame global warming :shades:
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Poor Al, even if he's right he'll be toast (as all of us will be :shades: ).
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    edited March 2013
    I am more worried about being a Popsicle than Toast. Coldest Summer, Fall, and Winter in So CA history. I'm ready for warmer weather. An honest 70 degree day would be nice. Stand in the sun it is warm, walk into the shade and you need a heavy jacket. That from someone that survived 25 years in the Arctic.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    At least you aren't burning like the area near Ft. Collins was a week or so ago. Of course Friday Denver had an unusual blizzard that interfered with the FIFA soccer match with Costa Rica.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    We have had our fair share of fires. Last two years we have not had those hot winds off the desert that fan the fires. There are strong signs of climate change. I just don't buy the BS that man is the largest contributing factor. Until they can explain how man caused the middle ages warming, I consider it all political, with intent to extort money.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Pay now or pay later?
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    You build by the seashore, below sea level or a 100 year flood plain and get wiped out, it is not my fault. I don't buy in vulnerable areas. And I don't like wasting my tax dollars on the people that do. You want to play you should have to be the one to PAY. Earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes happen. I have to buy earthquake insurance living in CA. Why do the Feds feel it is their responsibility to bail out these people that insist on living at the ragged edge of disaster?

    The Great Hurricane of 1780 killed at least 22,000 people. Was that man made CC? Or the Galveston 1900 Hurricane with as many as 12,000 killed. Man is insignificant when dealing with natural disasters. Trying to give man credit is total arrogance IMO.

    Earthquakes from Fracking, may be.... :confuse:
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    Agreed. The climate is cyclical based on what happens with the sun and the one constant is change. The sun's activity controls 99.9% of our weather. What little harm or good man can do here on earth concerning climate is not worth mentioning.

    About 10 inches of snow yesterday and today so far with another few inches to follow tonight and tomorrow. I am sure glad my wife, our dog, and I all get along fairly well ! :)

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • cwalticwalti Member Posts: 185
    Agreed 100%!!! The politicians a some sly opportunists found another way to hold the country hostage. Just like the Asbestos, Rubber [non-permissible content removed], CFL light bulbs, and Freon scams. We need to understand that the earth is akin to a water-balloon racing a 2 1/2 times the speed of sound through the universe. the earth's crust is less than 100 miles thick at most places. By galactic definition the slightest collision or near miss with any of the celestial junk that is racing through space would simply blow 'us' into a cloud of dust. The fact that no such event occurred in over 4.5 billion years is a miracle in itself. In the past there were ice ages and grape growing in Scotland. Babylon / Baghdad was the fruit basket of the middle east. Nobody would name Greenland 'Greenland' today. Climate change is part of the normal, natural cycle and will continue its course no matter what we do or do not do.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    edited March 2013
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLqyuxm96k&noredirect=1

    A few months ago, a group of students in Oslo produced a brilliant spoof video that lampooned the charity pop song genre. It showed a group of young Africans coming together to raise money for those of us freezing in the north. “A lot of people aren’t aware of what’s going on there right now,” says the African equivalent of Bob Geldof. “People don’t ignore starving people, so why should we ignore cold people? Frostbite kills too

    The reaction to the 2003 heatwave was extraordinary. It was blamed for 2,000 deaths, and taken as a warning that Britain was horribly unprepared for the coming era of snowless winters and barbecue summers. The government’s chief scientific officer, Sir David King, later declared that climate change was “more serious even than the threat of terrorism” in terms of the number of lives that could be lost. Such language is never used about the cold, which kills at least 10 times as many people every winter. Before long, every political party had signed up to the green agenda.

    Since Sir David’s exhortations, some 250,000 Brits have died from the cold, and 10,000 from the heat. It is horribly clear that we have been focusing on the wrong enemy. Instead of making sure energy was affordable, ministers have been trying to make it more expensive, with carbon price floors and emissions trading schemes. Fuel prices have doubled over seven years, forcing millions to choose between heat and food – and government has found itself a major part of the problem.


    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9959856/Its-the-cold-not-global-wa- rming-that-we-should-be-worried-about.html
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I understand a team from CA is in Romania studying their High Speed Rail System. :blush:

    http://vimeo.com/2578284
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    (Reuters) - Scientists are struggling to explain a slowdown in climate change that has exposed gaps in their understanding and defies a rise in global greenhouse gas emissions.

    Weak economic growth and the pause in warming is undermining governments' willingness to make a rapid billion-dollar shift from fossil fuels. Almost 200 governments have agreed to work out a plan by the end of 2015 to combat global warming.

    "The climate system is not quite so simple as people thought," said Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician and author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist" who estimates that moderate warming will be beneficial for crop growth and human health.


    http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/16/us-climate-slowdown-idUSBRE93F0AJ20130- 416
  • ClairesClaires Member Posts: 1,219
    It'll be interesting to see how the IPCC explains why the rise in temperatures slowed down during a period of record (and annually increasing) greenhouse gas emissions.

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  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I think SO2 has more of an impact than CO2. China and India are putting out lots more SO2, which scientist say blocks the sun cooling the earth. Bottom line 1000s more die each year from the cold than they do from the heat.

    Volcanoes also put out huge amounts of Sulfur Dioxide. I think the more scientist learn the less they really know.
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    LOL, they simply changed the name of the scam from global warming to climate change. That covers everything for them in their quest to get your cash.

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited April 2013
    Funny how the story ties in with "car talk".

    "The new normal in the coming decades is going to be more and more extreme flood-drought-flood cycles like we are seeing now in the Midwest, and this sort of weather whiplash is going to be an increasingly severe pain in the neck for society. We'd better prepare for it, by building a more flood-resistant infrastructure and developing more drought-resistant grains, for example. And if we continue to allow heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide continue to build up in the atmosphere at the current near-record pace, no amount of adaptation can prevent increasingly more violent cases of weather whiplash from being a serious threat to the global economy and the well-being of billions of people"

    Extreme Drought to Extreme Flood: Weather Whiplash Hits the Midwest (wunderground.com)
  • canewhitecanewhite Member Posts: 4
    Every time you drive a car, carbon-rich auto exhaust enters the atmosphere. Automobiles especially SUVs and trucks use the most energy followed by planes. Of course, the more energy used, the more greenhouse gases are emitted, the more humans cause global warming.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    On the other hand, Rise in U.S. Gas Production Fuels Unexpected Plunge in Emissions (Wall St. Journal)

    Different kind of "gas" but that trend would augur well for EVs.
  • slorenzenslorenzen Member Posts: 694
    "

    "On March 26th 2013, retired Professor Don Easterbrook from Western Washington University gave a devastating testimony before a Washington State Senate Committee against the belief that human induced CO2 is causing global warming. He opened up his presentation by criticizing media bias and the politicization of science through climate change, and said the planet is getting cooler rather than warmer."

    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/04/the_snows_of_rainier.html#ixzz2RmoMlIjz
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    He actually sounds like a fairly moderate voice. I'll say this, you can't survive in Bellingham (college town + old hippie town), especially at WWU, and not be some kind of greenie - you'd be guillotined at red square for nonconformance.

    Whenever I read about anything with the name "Intergovernmental Panel", I reach for my wallet (insert broken down emotorcon here)
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    That would explain why he didn't pipe up until he retired. :D
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Looks like the Germans and Russians are questioning the so called consensus. Look for more people to die from the cold than they would have from GW.

    Russian Scientists Warn Global Temperatures To Fall 1.5°C By 2050. Strong Doubts About Warming

    By P Gosselin on 5. April 2013

    Yesterday Germany’s No. 1 daily (circulation over 3.5 million), Bild online, carried the shock headline story: “Russian scientist sees next ice age approaching. Starting in 2014 it will start getting colder and colder +++ migration of people cannot be excluded“

    http://notrickszone.com/2013/04/05/russian-scientist-warns-global-temperatures-t- o-fall-1-5c-by-2050-and-global-cooling-refuges/
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    edited April 2013
    Our friends that spend the Summer at their cabin on a lake just across the MN border in Canada have not left yet. Just got an email that there is still 3 feet of ice on the lake. Their cabin is on the other side and can only get there by boat. They are usually up there and opening the place by the 20th of April. He has owned the cabin 30 years and this is the latest to have the ice go out.

    PS
    People here in Ohio saying this is a miserble cold Spring so far.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    I wondered if a little action in here would lure you in from your vacation road trip :-D

    It was warmer and sunnier in Bethel than it was back home last week. But that changed fast and the last couple of days have been high 60s and we hit 70 today. The snow is going fast.
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    A cold rain with possible snow mixed in is forecast for later this week. We had sleet and flurries last week in late April, but snow in May in Kansas City? Completely unheard of.

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    It was 83 degrees here in the KC area yesterday. I played golf early in the day and then my wife and I did some plantings around the yard, etc. and put out some palms in huge pots and so on.

    Fast forward to today, May 2nd, 4 PM. It is 33 degrees and snowing heavily. The ground is already covered. Forecast yesterday said we might get some flurries but mostly rain with no freeze. Forecasts now are all over the board...from 1 inch to 8 inches. We'll see.

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I confess, I have put a lot of miles on my SUV and it threw off the whole climate thingy. Still very nice here in Evansville Indiana. About 82 yesterday and 78 today. They are saying it will cool some and rain may be coming. Not interested in seeing any of your snow. We had thought of visiting family in Colorado Springs. I don't think that will happen.
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,351
    edited May 2013
    That is what is so weird about this weather. The 10 day forecast for Colorado Springs shows daily highs in the 60's and lots of sun. 125 miles west of here in Manhattan, Ks. (The Little Apple) :) it is 50 degrees and cloudy. Just east of here it is 75 degrees.

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

This discussion has been closed.