Most if not all taxes (or what ever name the government wants to give them at the time) is a form of social engineering. This manifests itself via a process of taking money from activities and individuals to fund infrastructure, amenities and social services such as Health, Defence, Police, and Pensions etc) for the majority of the residents . However over the last 50 plus years taxes have also been used to take money from those the political party in power at the time does not like (those involved would probably not vote for them) and give it to those they do like (and most probably will vote for them). Just watch where money is spent on a local basis prior to an election.
Against this background our Global warming policies have to be evaluated to ascertain whether they represent something of benefit for all our residents or not.
Consider that over the eons our planet has warmed and cooled numerous times without any help from humans who for most of this period did not exist.
When trying to evaluate governments policies such as those involving global warming certain questions that must be addressed are :
The average temperature on planet Earth over time has been 28c. Todays average world temperature is just 14c. Are we just in a normal phase of our planets evolution?
Has mankind by its own activities solely created this warming issue?
Are we participating in a phase of our planets own evolution – and just speeding up the warming process by our activities? Bear in mind that even a drastic 6c rise in temperature will still just have us sitting at an average of 20c.
Until we have irrefutable answers to these questions we should be cautious about diverting major resources and finances because if we employ them incorrectly they may not or will not be available when we do have the answers. This does not mean that we should not implement policies designed to minimise our contribution to the warming process but not at the cost of distorting our economy and reducing its capability to produce the lifestyle that the majority of residents desire.
The fact that our government has backed away from its previous policies is an indication that they did not have the answer to those three questions.
A number of industries that organised themselves on the basis of the proposed legislation are now in serious trouble with a resultant negative impact on those employed in these projects and those financing them.
The ability of governments of all political persuasion to waste vast sums of money is almost criminal and I am sure they would never make the same decisions if the money came out of their retirement fund or wages.
