Wow there's more currency exchanges for Bitcoins than merchants that accept them!

Not that it would ever happen... but if there were a big, successful political push demanding that we drop all industry subsidies, they could all be dropped in one act in one day. Too bad those that are receiving all these subsidies are the ones paying our representatives their second paychecks.

We need to get rid of all subsidies first.

Still not quite, as that will only remove the file's listing from the index.... the data will still be on the drive. Seems like you are gonna have some trouble legitimately stealing these files.

Well yes... but not because the weight of your e-reader increases. See... you're not taking the publisher's e-reader weight from them... you're merely cloning their e-reader weight onto yours.

Subsidies for ANYTHING is an important problem. Why should We The Taxpayers have to prop up an industry that can't support itself? As long as we subsidize the INDUSTRY of solar power and other renewables, we lessen the incentive for private funding of development of cheaper, more efficient technologies. We need to provide some government-funded research grants that will add to public knowledge of potential technologies... and leave the rest to private industry. Stop propping up those who can't come up with better technologies that can stay viable by themselves.

Wrongo. We have artificially-low prices to the end-user, with actually high prices that are masked by the subsidies that the end-user doesn't necessarily realize he's paying. Yes, it's bringing prices down faster, and it's bringing ACTUAL production costs down faster, and it will do so until solar power is cheap enough that subsidies are no longer necessary..... but that doesn't mean the subsidies will go away. Look at any other heavily-subsidized industry: Coal, oil, pharmaceuticals, wheat and corn. These are industries that pump money into politicians' election funds to ensure that their beloved tax breaks and subsidies will never go away. Renewable energy is approaching that point where they have extreme control over politics, except they have one extra benefit in that they have the undying support of the citizens as well. If we continue these ridiculous subsidies, they will never go away and we will forever be paying way too much for our energy.

That being said, I am in favor of government funding for research, so long as that research remains public and is patented by the government and licensed free of charge, or not patented at all. All subsidies need to be eliminated... people need to know just how much money they're paying for that gallon of gas, loaf of bread, or kWh of solar power.

So Apple is going to have to get a license from Oracle in order to use Sun's energy?

FTFY

They do that as a safety precaution. If an actual zombie uprising happens to occur during the exercise, they need to be able to discern real zombies from fake ones, so they make the fake ones orange. It's standard emergency preparedness exercise protocol.

Wow, you have put a significant amount of consideration into this..... you planning something?

You're absolutely right. Maybe not about the actual number (I honestly have no clue exactly what amounts of money the oil and coal industries receive from the government), but at least the idea. I, for one, am in favor of elimination of subsidies in all industries... alongside a broad tax cut that would approximately equal the amount of money that's no longer being given to them. People need to realize just how much money they're paying for that gallon of gas, or that loaf of bread... or that kWh of solar power. Right now, much of that cost is paid for by our taxes so the actual cost is shrouded by the check we write to the IRS every year. That makes it extremely difficult to make informed decisions about any sort of investments or purchases. Of course, the industries love their subsidies because that's guaranteed government money that's not affected by the marketplace... and because of that, subsidies only serve to stifle innovation by reducing or eliminating incentive to develop ways to ensure efficiency and profitability. If you're receiving subsidies that do that for you, then what's the point?

Remove subsidies from oil and coal. Remove subsidies from wind and solar. Hell, remove subsidies from wheat and corn while we're at it. I support some government-funded public research, but once the research is done it had better be able to support itself in the independent marketplace.

There are powerful companies and trillions of dollars at stake on both sides. Oil companies have been privately researching renewable and clean fuels so that they will still be viable when the market inevitably shies away from fossil fuels, as well as doing what they can to protect their current market. There are many companies out there trying to profit off the environmentalist side... solar, wind, this "carbon credit" bullshit, etc... and they are also doing what they can to make themselves relevant, which includes taking advantage of the infinite amount of misinformation out there about what is actually happening to our planet (and what we might be able to do to reverse it) and using such information to drive a psychological emotional response in their favor among citizens and politicians. What a lot of people don't seem to understand is that very little of the allegedly-"green" technology that's currently in wide use is even nearly profitable. Instead, almost all of it has to be propped up by significant subsidization and legislation in order to stay afloat... and that's just not economically sustainable. RATHER than allowing a few extra years to develop technologies that COULD actually be profitable on their own, the world has been tricked into believing that our planet will surely shrivel and die if we don't take action IMMEDIATELY. So now we're stuck paying for these incredibly expensive, incredibly inefficient technologies (that are for the most part less than a decade old) to supply an incredibly small amount of our nation's energy needs.... while today we are getting very close to having some real progress in the sustainable energy field with technologies that are inexpensive and efficient enough to support themselves without ridiculous subsidies. And that's without mentioning nuclear power which people still have an irrational fear of.... even though it would solve (and more) our environmentally-unfriendly energy production with its extreme efficiency, inexpense, and safety record.

Why is that? Just drive out through the hole you made when you drove in.