I don't pay for it. People who live in areas where climate impacts are large, especially with climate change creating a lot of unpredictability and higher negative impacts, need to pay for it by buying insurance. That is how capitalism works. But you Socialists want me to pay for it? I don't live on the coast PRECISELY because I don't want to added burden of insurance costs on my budget. I visit the coast quite a bit, but would never live there, because I am financially responsible and have enough foresight to understand that climate change will play havoc with any coastal investment I make.
That is as it should be. Those who are willing to take the risk should bear the burden of the costs of their investment and the rewards or negative impacts. We're all free to take risks, but when your risk doesn't reward you, then you have no right to make me pay for your risky venture.
So yes, I agree with you that nothing is free. I have said that so frequently in my life, especially to my kids as they were growing up, that it qualifies as a mantra of mine. One thing you and I may agree on is that some companies in the US benefit enormously from free riding on public resources. I believe companies that engage in dirty resource gathering like fracking, oil production and consumption are free riding on a public resource and the externalities of the destruction of these public resources are not priced into the products they sell, which is why they are able to make enormous profits. This is the tragedy of the commons economists talk about. If something is free, like our atmosphere, then people will abuse it and pollute it for their own profit. That's why externalities must be pushed back onto the companies that are profiting from it. Of course, this is very controversial, because of the entrenched positions of the GOP and DNC. So no compromise is possible. |
