Sunday 6 March 2011

Quote of the Day

From Newsnight: (15:10 in)

Michael Crick:


"Surely stiff taxes like [the Fuel Duty escalator] are a way to make this country more green ?
"

Robert Halfon MP (Cons)


"Of course I support green and I support recycling and so on and so forth: but I mostly support hard-working people, who at the moment are suffering massively because of the price of petrol, and I care more about that at the moment – it has to be the priority, getting petrol prices down – than worry about the green side of things. Because people are suffering."

= = = = =


And there you have it: GDP beats GHG - every time.


ND

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

But 'green' is a sham.

The elite don't dare tell the sheeple that wealth is flying East, so we are now unable to buy at the market rate.

Private car transportation will soon be a luxury in England to be enjoyed by the elite.

Just another way in which the Middle Classes are being destroyed. As a matter of policy.

APL said...

Anon: "The elite don't dare tell the sheeple that wealth is flying East"

China is not all it's cracked up to be, a totalitarian regime with a lot of money is still a totalitarian regime.

Much of their money is dollars and if the US economy goes down the tubes, they loose their primary market and the value of their dollar holdings.

Anon: "But 'green' is a sham."

Yes, if the POTB in the UK wanted to boost the UK economy they would abolish fuel duty.

Old BE said...

I am guessing that the oil rise has boosted petrol duty and fuel-related VAT massively so it will be quite easy for Osborne to say that he will aim to keep Treasury revenue from fuel taxes "stable".

He can be seen to be listening to the squeals from road users and also keeping his sights on the deficit reduction prize.

Old BE said...

Oh, and of course a nice bit of unplanned inflation might do wonders for nominal GDP and the national debt...

Anonymous said...

GDP isn't winning out vs the green fools at all.

If it was then why is the country wasting thousands per family each year on green taxes (Renewables Obligation) on their electricity bills? To build farcial wind turbines and put up solar panels..

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/03/thick-tory-talks-tosh.html

Anonymous said...

Interesting how 'big oil' is now so strategic that State policy is oriented to making or breaking these multinationals.

Breaking, of course, being the closet-Mohammedan Obama's opportunism in wrecking BP after the spill.

Making, with HMG appeasing the Libyans to sweeten the BP deal.

I guess that the State will be content to fight this 'cold war' via the multinationals for few years until the 'hot' resource wars spread globally.

Experts have predicted that WWIII will be fought over salt.

alan said...

Anon(12:36) - I agree green is a sham, but its not the so called 'elites' pushing the agenda.

There is a new political movement on the block which has a lot in common with communism. This new movement is pushing for a green utopia, the abandonment of all high technology and a return to localism. The end result is very similar to an Amish way of life (without the religion).

We are facing significant problems in the future, not just with fossil fuel depletion, but also mineral depletion (the lower grade the ore, the higher energy inputs are required for purification). Combined with a global population of 7 billion people the numbers dont add up.

Unfortunately we don't have the technology at present to solve the problems facing us, nor do we have politicians with vision, guts, or intellect to grasp the scale of the problem and do something about it. Politicians have turned into 'doomers' and see 'green' as the only solution.

As a globalist I would suggest we start with fast tracking R&D in all forms of nuclear technology. Hydrogen/Boron (pB11) fusion looks the most promising, but we cannot risk betting on just one technology. Giving 1 billion to the top 20?50?100? projects per year would be a significant funding increase and globally is chump change.

Stabilising world population is the next challenge. Uplifting countries out of poverty has historically proved to stabilise birth rates without the need for population controls. Population controls may still be needed, but are very difficult to implement.

Nick Drew said...

GDP isn't winning out vs the green fools at all

the debate proper is only just starting, it's been Phoney War so far

(I write some fairly intemperate stuff but that EUR piece is not errr, terribly balanced)

Varying fortunes of BP: same point again - the Real Thing is only just starting

BE, APL - oil-related revenues are complex but yes, there is plenty of scope for all manner of tinkering, politicking & grand-standing at the margins

Alan - population control - Bi-ig Topic !

a lot in common with communism - indeed: (much as I love George Monbiot ...)

Overall, I say let's get it over with, ASAP. There's only one headline issue: how to run the economy at (say) $150+ oil on a sustained basis. Emissions and security of supply will largely look after themselves.

Osborne has just a very few days in which to prove his much-vaunted genius ...

Anonymous said...

Richard North at EUR used to be very good, he mentioned many things years in advance of the MSM.

Trouble is since David Cameron got elected its pushed him over the edge, a little..

Can't say I blame him tbh. These people have no elected mandate, the electorate just wanted rid of Brown, and despite that Cameron still couldn't win, and the Lib Dems vote went down, yet Nick Clegg stands there preaching democracy.

Anyway, balance doesn't equate accuracy.