Hey Cajunwolf! Moved your post over here, figured people going to the joke board would be looking for a pick-me-up and your post was too serious for that!
The whole thing angers me because greed is allowed ... choke innovation that could possibly change the quality of life as we know it for billions a...
You anger is understandable, but I believe the focus is off. If properly focused we could make some changes!
So I ask you...
What would you do differently if you were the president?
Here's why I think the focus is off...
> choke innovation that could possibly change the quality of life
It's really tough for a new industry to get a foot hold. In order for that technology to emerge and successfully compete someone has to foot the bill as products and supply chains emerge. A lot of countries (U.S., Australia) have done something to help - they've spent billions promoting research, assisting companies, offering incentives, etc. And Solar has finally made it over the hump, solar is cheaper than the grid!
Bill Gates just went on record saying it's time to pull solar subsidies.
So my point here is that big government isn't trying to choke innovation; it's been actively trying to promote it. In '79, Jimmy Carter (a president with an actual science degree and naval experience with nuclear reactors) put solar panels on the white house. So, while big oil might not like it and tell you how dangerous the sun's cancer causing rays are, government by and large is trying to change the quality of life for the better.
Politicians are pulled in a thousand different different directions, everyone always thinks their problem is the biggest. There are two sides to every story, so every case has conflicting facts. So, in many cases government creates more government to try and straighten out the mess; typically they do this for things that are too important to mess around with (e.g., dept. of Agriculture, dept of Energy). Those places are full of people that are nice people working hard to make the best choices. Are GMOs really safe? Like I said, they do the best they can with what they know and setup research programs for what they don't and it's why policies change over time.
That said, politicians
need to stay in office to fight the fights they want to fight. So, it's often expedient for them to cave to the whims of their voters. You have the agencies saying they're understaffed and can't accurately respond to all the demands on them. You have constituents saying government is to big, costs to much, and tries to control to much. You have industries that if left unchecked will destroy that industry (e.g., banking collapse of '08).
> greed is allowed
Well, let me illustrate this with a joke a friend sent me:
Limit all US politicians to two terms.
One in office
One in prison
Illinois already does this, and it seems to be working for them.
The point is, greed isn't allowed. Sure it happens, but when it does in countries like the U.S. there are checks and balances at play.
Taxes are a great thing. They pay for roads, provide the capitol to bankroll utilities, keep the country militarily safe, subsidize the mail system, provide relief in disasters, help foster new innovations, pay for fire-fighters, yada yada yada.
If you're taxed on the power you use; then the government loses that revenue when citizens switch to solar. They have to make up that short fall to pay for the programs in place and the natural place to get it is from where they lost it. So, the Belgium law taxing inverters isn't as far out as it seems.
Solar taxes are only going to get worse
As an example, gasoline in the U.S. has a "road-tax", that is when you buy gas you're taxed on it and that tax goes to pay for roads. As cars go electric, they're still using the road but not paying their fair share of the taxes. So a lot of places are looking into ways to tax this.
Solar will only get worse, but that's primarily because solar power citizens are currently getting a free ride. That's not a bad thing, it's just an unadvertised way to incentivize the new technology.
If utilities can't be allowed to fail, how will they make up the shortfall as more people switch to solar?
Come up with good solutions to all the problems and you'll get my vote in the 2020 elections!
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