John makes a point. Which, of course is the rationale behind the carbon [sic] tax movement - to somehow monetize the cost to the collective/society by emitting CO2. In that environment, then certainly unbridled capitalism will most certainly find the most effect means. That, in turn, result in not more government, but really less government involvement. Should be a win-win.
However, in the event that the cost to "stop" global warming is greater than the cost to adapt to the consequences, then the collective/societal cost is greatly reduced.
This link demonstrates that even IF the science is settled, the adaptation costs are 50 times less than the costs to stop the warming from occurring.
Word of advice to the "warmists"/"alarmists": you're not going to win by arguing for a complete de-industrialization of the world (which is what "stopping" global warming, if the
science is true, would take). However, selling a pay-to-play system where all funds raised are dedicated to adapting to the warming, would be a much easier sell. Then, there's no cap-n-trade where the bankers are the only ones making money, there's no additional five levels of government (including the UN) expanding at rates vastly exceeding inflation, there's none of that. I don't understand the insistence on demonizing energy and prosperity.
Now, you may ask, why, after all my harping on the (lack of) scientific rigour, and the insistence on having a carbon-consumption-price sensitivity, why I would submit to a taxation on carbon [sic]? Well, the fact of the matter is that the globe has warmed in the last century - whether that's man-made or not is not the point. There are most certainly costs associated with that - some may argue that the benefits outweigh the costs, which may be the case. But, we can have some measure of accounting of this, on an ongoing basis. If there are net costs, then someone has to pay for them. I'm not categorically opposed to figuring out some measure to pay for real, incurred costs. We do that with other aspects of our civil society: infrastructure, education, health care, defence, etc.
I just don't see that