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comment by am_Unition
am_Unition  ·  604 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Californians asked to cut power use as extreme heat approaches

Hey, I almost forgot, remember when we let economists play epidemiologist?

The most likely interpretation is that expert economist Kevin Hassert didn't actually believe his own bullshit, and instead sold his repute to the White House to help Trump minimize what we were facing with covid-19. Surely, this time, with the even more complicated system of the Earth's climate, the economists aren't minimizing the scale of what we're up against to protect the ruling business class that employs them, right?

The idea of Jamie Dimon receiving accolades from attendees on his conference call after he graciously announces his support for switching the types of fossil fuels we're burning is fucking hilarious. Also Dimon:

    "Why can‘t we get it through our thick skulls, that if you want to solve climate [change], it is not against climate [change] for America to boost more oil and gas?" Dimon reportedly said.

Our thick skulls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil_climate_change_controversy

But this time? This time, surely, big business and the economists to whom they pay exorbitant amounts of money have prescribed the correct plan of action, and are deserving of our trust.

Yes, natural gas produces ~50% less CO2 than coal. Smil, at least, is a vocal advocate of reducing overall energy demand. Dimon's position is basically "And that solves it!". Smil is right that de-carbonization is a huge problem. Maybe we should actually get started in on it instead of (once again) pretending bullshit like "carbon offsets actually work". De-carbonization is inherently not profitable, so I will assume you're against it, no? Smil also thinks our current requirement of economic growth must end. I agree. So much for 1.03^29.

    Why shift? People live with temperature changes of a few degrees every year, indeed every day.

Revisiting this; I don't think you're actually arguing in good faith. What a waste of my time. Later.