Comments on Green Energy Tax Cuts: Obama's Energy Plan (Part 1): Venture Socialism?

Well, Mr. Anonymous, did you ever buy anything (li...

2008-08-08T10:53:00.000-04:00

Well, Mr. Anonymous, did you ever buy anything (like a hybrid or solar panels) partly because you were offered a tax incentive or other rebate? If it worked for you, as it has worked for millions of others, then why wouldn't it work for the California truckers?

Tax incentives for green energy tech is an established, wildly successful and very popular policy. Sure it should be evaluated. But clearly, the bigger the incentive, the faster the clean tech will be adopted. If clean energy trucks are sales and income tax free, if the income clean energy trucks produce is tax free until the cost of the truck is recouped, that would be a substantial incentive, and you would see a massive shift in the national truck fleet in a few years.

btw, here's the link I meant to send:
http://st...

2008-08-08T10:32:00.000-04:00

btw, here's the link I meant to send:
http://static.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/greenberg21.jpg

Obviously by definition there is resistance from m...

2008-08-08T10:30:00.000-04:00

Obviously by definition there is resistance from market forces against mandates, otherwise it wouldn't be necessary to mandate them! In this case, the Teamsters are opposed to the program because they want the program to be open to only fleets where they have membership. Owners are upset about having to open their books to some extent. All this needs to be carefully thought through and reasonable decisions made by smart people. To take the intended "results" of this example, how long do you think it will take for tax incentives to get 100% of the trucks going into the Port of LA to be clean trucks? Never, that's how long! If there are benefits to tax incentives, by all means, they need to be reaped, but how are you (or other smart people) going to evaluate that relative to the cost? If the system is designed not to be evaluated it is doomed to have unintended consequences.

Anonymous: Here, let me help you to make my point....

2008-08-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

Anonymous: Here, let me help you to make my point. Your URL was a bit long, so here is a tinyurl link to the same article:

http://tinyurl.com/55r9g8

The article is about how the Ports of Los Angeles and Los Angeles have failed to sign up a single trucker for their program which requires truck fleets to replace most of their fleets with cleaner trucks, some running on alternative fuels like natural gas.

But, my dear Anon, that is NOT a tax break program, it is a MANDATE. The ports are trying to force truckers to do something green, but nobody likes to be forced to do anything. Nobody likes to lose their freedom. So they fight it on principle. That is why it is not working. Mandates nearly ALWAYS spark fierce political opposition.

Tax cuts work because nearly everybody likes a tax cut. And Beans is right: the tax cuts are results oriented. You don't get a tax cut unless you are genuinely producing clean energy or qualified green technology, like, say, a plug-in natural gas hybrid vehicles. You can't just do anything to get the tax breaks I am proposing. That is ridiculous, and you have no serious basis for making that claim.

This plan isn't "results oriented". ...

2008-08-08T08:20:00.000-04:00

This plan isn't "results oriented". It's "do whatever you want and get a tax break" oriented. It's this kind of public policy that leads to these "results":

http://www.labusinessjournal.com/article.asp?aID=79789131.6054782.1662687.2494034.9342661.467&aID2=127890

Beans writes:
While I have reservations about t...

2008-08-06T19:06:00.000-04:00

Beans writes:
While I have reservations about the specifics of this blogger's proposal, I wholeheartedly agree with the notion of using tax incentives to support the use of alternative and environmentally friendly energy. And our energy policy should rely as much as is wise or practicable on the creativity and resourcefulness of private enterprise to meet what Barack Obama has termed "the great moral challenge of our times."
I've also heard it pointed out that this is not just something we have to do to deal with climate change and avoid military interventions, it's also something that will improve our lives and America's position in the world.

Beans comments:
There is a lot to be said for a...

2008-08-06T12:51:00.000-04:00

Beans comments:
There is a lot to be said for a results-oriented approach to supporting alternative and environmentally friendly energy. This would depend on objective definitions of what's "green," with precautions to prevent spurious claims. While congress debates the definitions, intense pressure will be brought to bear by energy producers and other groups. It would be best to leave such decisions to an organization like the National Academy of Sciences.