Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlatan
Well the numbers also show the total amount of emmissions... China and India are in the top ten BUT the US, regardless of whether or not you look at per capita is STILL higher than the rest...
Hell it's higher than the European Union combined...
Yes, China and India have higher populations... a reason we should be concerned about the spead of mass consumerism in those nations... imagine how bad they will be if they continue to increase their output on the same gowth pattern?
They should be held accountable... if not by the accord then by trade tariffs...
Again, the whole this will damage our economy, is BS... the US has the opportunity to be a world leader here and they are squandering that... of course the current administration can't afford to take any economic hits... they need all the treasure they have for other things...
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The economic hit is real-there are real, quantifiable costs associated with reducing polluting ommissions. Also, businesses will relocate to India, China, or any other place where emmisions standards are lower if America were to drastically change their current policies.
Earlier I said I don't feel that per-capita is the best metric, but I don't know offhand of a better one. I suggested one earlier, but I don't know if it's really any better.
And as for tariffs, if they could be implemented I would be heavily in favor of them. But it's currently extremely difficult to have tarrifs implemented in the "global economy". Although if countries were to levy heavy tarrifs against China and India, I personally think those countries would have little recourse (they both heavily export and have very little importing, so threats of counter-tarrifs would probably be ineffective).