Oil Addiction

[gigglingwizard]

I just had a heretical thought. I was looking at something on Facebook that was talking about oil subsidies, and of course, we're supposed to believe that oil subsidies serve no purpose other than making rich people even richer. But I got to thinking...maybe we do need to support the oil industry. I'm not asserting that we do. I'm simply opening

Comments

[elusiveat]

Obvious answer is money should be diverted away from oil subsidies and toward restructuring the economy to depend instead on energy sources that aren't getting dirtier and dirtier to produce.

That's me making a huge concession, taking it as given that we aren't smart enough to figure out a way to flourish without stupid levels of consumption. I still think it's incredibly messed up that we are so attached to the idea that people need to work in order to justify their existence that we look at increased overall consumption as a good thing.

[gigglingwizard]

I agree with you philosophically, but I see a strategic problem with your solution of diverting money away from oil subsidies toward restructuring.

It might work fine if there's some sweet spot, some certain amount of money we can divert away without setting off a domino effect that causes a collapse. But we don't know what that number is. We risk overdoing it. "Restructuring" won't mean much if the society planning the restructure falls to pieces before it can complete the project.

Moreover, I suspect a project of that scale would require a lot more money (and other resources) than just whatever we can skim off the oil companies without rocking the boat.

[elusiveat]

Yeah, I thought of this too after posting.

The critical point is saying "we need oil subsidies" assumes we're not going to do jack else to repair our incredibly broken system, and furthermore that we are content to destroy our natural resources in order to ensure short term prosperity. There are other sources of wealth required for the restructuring.

But basically I don't have much patience with any argument that hinges on the assumption that restructuring is optional. Unless we *want* future generations to live in hell on earth, a shift away from the fossil fuel economy is mandatory.

[elusiveat]

Also, I think a preferred short term solution to subsidizing oil directly would be to subsidize households that are struggling. If they need to spend the money on gasoline, so be it, but there's no reason to subsidize gasoline for households that aren't struggling.