[ExI] Next Decade May See No Warming

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2008/5/2 Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com>:
> On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 2:17 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >  The only way to
>  >  solve the problem seems to be if there is an opportunity to vote to
>  >  *force everyone* to adhere to a plan which, although profit-sapping,
>  >  will at least be disaster-averting.
>
>  "Profits" ordinarily mean "the difference between earnings and costs".
>  I do not see how this margin would be reduced by a compulsory plan,
>  say, to reduce CO2 emissions everywhere.
>
>  What would be reduced by a global enforcement of such a plan is the
>  total amount of resources available to "mankind" to pursue other goals
>  and/or to limit other risks.

If the average cost of energy goes up then everyone, on average,
becomes poorer because more resources must be put into produce the
same amount of goods. Even if nominal profits are maintained by
increasing prices to compensate for increased costs real profits will
still be eroded as a result of inflation. This is not to say that a
stronger, better and cleaner economy won't emerge eventually, but in
the short term economic growth will probably take hit.




-- 
Stathis Papaioannou