You cannot make people adopt more expensive clean energy, because higher fuel prices are political suicide under any government.

Added to korrents 7 Sept 2026 · How quotes work · Something wrong? Tell us

Where this collides

• Cannot both be true

  Free markets alone cannot solve environmental and energy problems; legislation, regulation, and taxation are also necessary.

  MacKay says legislation, regulation and taxation are necessary alongside markets. Handmer says it is obviously impossible to make anyone adopt more expensive carbon-free energy, because higher fuel prices are political suicide under any system of government — which rules out the tax half of MacKay’s toolkit rather than disagreeing about whether it would work.

• Cannot both be true

  The way to cut emissions is to tax the most emission-intensive goods, not to stop growth.

  Milanovic’s alternative to degrowth is to tax emission-intensive goods and services so people consume less of them. Handmer says it is obviously impossible to make anyone adopt more expensive carbon-free energy, because higher fuel prices are political suicide under any system of government. Milanovic’s remedy is the thing Handmer says cannot be done.

Shared subject first, then similar wording. They may agree or disagree.

• Quoted subsidy totals for meat and fossil fuels mostly describe unpriced damage, not money any government could take back and spend elsewhere. HRHannah Ritchie9 Feb 2026energygovernment
• The inflation of the early 2020s was caused by government overspending and rising energy prices. DTDonald Trump20 Jan 2025energygovernment
• A competent, empowered civil service that performs crucial government functions with in-house expertise is good. NSNoah Smith18 Sept 2026government
• A conspiracy theory can be used as a pretext to dismantle government programs and target researchers and citizens. AAAnne Applebaum4 Sept 2026government
• A free person sees government as a means, neither a giver of favors nor a master to be worshipped MFMilton Friedmanc. 1962government

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