[K-Dog]

There should be a way to build up soil and sequester carbon and extract an amount of biomass for fuel, all at the same time.

There is. Legal right to the minimum caloric intake of W Europe worldwide and no market exchange of corn, dairy, poultry. Increase ag laborforce by x200, redistribute land equally then convince them to progressively collectivize up to the largest feasible local organization. Centrally subsidize and improve local land augmentation/reclamation while guaranteeing 6 hr work day, healthcare, schooling, basic amenities. Do away with animal products apart from dairy and poultry.

How do you propose to implement any of your plans? 

Disagreeing with or agreeing with any of your proposals right now would not make progress.  But minimum caloric intake is something we all can agree on (unless we are insane).  So how to implement your program?  Who pays for it?  How do you make it happen?  How do you make sure there is no abuse in your system?

Carbon fee and dividend would put the infrastructure for a universal payment system in place.  With F and D in  place payments could easily be issued.  The functional homeless could have their basic needs met.  We can talk about the impaired on another day.

How will you make sure there is enough work for everybody who can pay into your system so your system says solvent?  What about freeloaders.  Until new social values develop which honor and sanctify your system, you will have to incentivize good behavior.  How will you do that?

[K-Dog]

I posted this at ecosophia today:

Open posting. OK then I will. I'll post about carbon fee and dividend. To begin with. Carbon fee and dividend is not a tax. Taxes are collected by government for government use. A fee collected and paid to all people equally is a payment from the social commons not a tax. It is important to understand this or you likely will dismiss the benefits. Consider oil as the example, coal and gas would have fees collected as well but talking about one is easier. Money is taken at the wellhead where it is mined. Before first sale. If a dollar worth of oil is pulled out of the ground a percentage of value is taken from it. A percentage determined by a citizens assembly. After that the added cost is passed on as markup in the distribution chain. All the money is equally divided among all citizens. This allows the individual to cancel the fee added at the wellhead if they use an average amount of fossil fuel. If you use less fossil fuel than average the system pays you money. If you use more you pay more. Collected money is equally distributed with kids getting a percentage starting at 16. Younger children don't use gasoline or diesel, and the money, all of it, must go to citizens who use oil products. Younger kids are excluded because they do not buy anything and the money is paid out to consumers to offset the added price consumers must pay. Having a citizens assembly set the fee is appropriate and should not be done by government. Government provides infrastructure, but the commons should decide to do with the commons. Not an elite group.

I made some corrections.  I think this is the closest I have come to describing what carbon fee and dividend is.  The benefits have to be figured out on your own.  But if you do not think money influences human behavior you will see no benefit to carbon fee and dividend.  If that is the case move on, there is nothing to see.

[K-Dog]

Australia Can No Longer Manufacture Windows For Homes

about the 3rd largest natgas exporter in the world, gas too expensive?

sup widat?
[/quote]

There are Trumps down under.  A government for the people would do everything it could to make your nation self sufficient.  Your government is more concerned with already rich people making bank on exporting raw materials.  If a diversified and healthy society interests them, they can fly other places to get it.  Jobs for out of class people is not their concern.

These costs are certain to soar even higher once LNG import terminals are built in NSW, Victoria, and South Australia, thereby locking in import parity prices at the same time as nearly three-quarters of East Coast gas is exported, mostly to China.