Proper sin-taxes

Just a quick fun thought.

I've considered the idea of a "sin tax" - some sort of compensation applied for consumption - like gasoline. I don't even care where the money goes - whether roads, subsidizing mass transit, or general budget.

Well, I was thinking of another area - our "snack pack" at work ... to convenient when I'm under stress. I wondered if a "sin tax" would offer any moderating, but overall not given it seems like a small budget. Even a 200% tax would offer little hardship.

Well, even if I collected such a tax, I don't know what to do with it. Ideally it would go to a charity or something, but a charity means doing good, which won't encourage moderation.

NO, I see a PROPER "sin-tax" must be purely destructive - specifically the most effective form of a sin-tax would be to BURN MONEY!

Seriously a perverse fun thought. On one level it has NO effect on me personally, and even burning $100/month would have no effect on the economy. Well if millions did perhaps, but I'm just offering a warped perspective.

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN to burn paper money?

It's just a strange idea. It has SOME value - perhaps costs $0.20/dollar to print, so perhaps better to burn 5 $20/month than 100 $1 bills.

Anyway, it's fun because nothing of REAL value is destroyed - except my wasted time to earn the money to burn!

Yes, it is perverse to think of "starving" people who could use the money but it's still fun to imagine.

It's funny to think how it is POSSIBLE burning money may be better for the environment than spending it!

It's funny since I'll one of the poor sobs who will pick up a penny for its intrinsic value.

I'll think more about this great new yuppy game - maybe I'll start a trend?! :)

Screw the poor

That's my general outrageous thought when the "help the poor" crowd defend low gaxoline taxes to help the poor get by.

The argument is the rich won't change their consumption at any price and the poor can't change their consumption at any price, so there's no value in trying to tax consumption to encourage conservation. Instead we should demand better fuel efficiency standards and all that stuff.

I say "screw the poor" as a expression of frustration that cheap energy can possibly be seen as any sort of entitlement of human diginity for fossil fuel consumption. I say it to suggest I think otherwise - at least I see the road to hell can be paved by good intentions and protecting people from a future they can't escape isn't really helping them, just delaying the pain and making more of it later.

The "pursuit of happiness" is our collective goal however as Americans and there's plenty of outrageous dreams to go around, more by the wealthy than the poor. I just don't know what the "floor" ought to be to protect the bottom. Education yes - food and shelter - yes, but personal automobiles? No And 0% down mortgages for 100% of the market value for a home? $50,000 surgury for a new heart after a lifetime of fast food? No. That can not be the floor.

So I'd wish my message to be "Beware". I'll give warnings - but I know the direction we must travel, know we have farther to fall before we find any sort of new equilibrium of expectations on the world. I don't see any point in lying and pretending there's any smooth saling ahead, at least in terms of cheap energy.

I guess I'd wish to be an optimist - to be one of those brave scientists working to find the next great discovery that will change everything and carry our consumption to a new plateau, but really no, not really. I don't think humanity "deserves" to be saved as we are. I don't think we can hope for a savior as long as unlimited growth is our only model for the future. It's just freakin' pointness to keep playing the game that can have no end except the delay of human misery. Let's get on with the misery and get to the other side sooner than later, whatever it looks like.

Well perhaps I'm doing my part, perhaps not. I don't have a car at least, and take the bus and my bike for most of my transportation. I put my "disposable income" primarily to pay down my mortgage sooner than later. I turn my heat down in the winter.

Am I miserable yet? Well, my escape is in having more time to explore, and use computers to do much of it. I take advantage of my programming skills to get paid more money than I need. I don't know, but I live a free life, more cheap vices than not.

I admit I don't have any sort of moral highground to offer the poor, to tell them they ought to have MORE misery. Mostly I imagine MOST people fight too hard to get ahead rather than to live more within their means. I certainly worry about people - the financial risks and tradeoffs of debt for education for homes for cars for everything.

I still think we're better of facing higher energy prices now. Then alternatives will be more competitive and come sooner. I am sort of a capitalist in that I need money to live and think about investments that have long term benefits and see costs do affect my decisions, so I imagine costs will affect others decisions as well.

Okay, "please don't screw the poor", but let them know that times are coming that will be harder, money will run shorter, and so whatever happiness they can find with less money now, might as well start learning that now, and if they find a little extra, find something to do with it that will help strengthen their future.

I think we'll all in this together, but there's no saviors out there ultimately besides our own self-interest and prudent decisions.