Comment Re:Cap & Trade = Energy Rationing (Score 1) 874
You don't have a way to force every last human on earth to comply.
That's certainly true.
And you can't ask people to starve for clean air and expect them to comply (which is exactly what you're doing btw).
Starvation? Seriously?
That's the whole problem in the "tragedy of the commons". It DOES NOT matter if "most" people behave. It does not matter if "nearly everyone" behaves. it does no good if "everyone except that one guy" behaves. All those things accomplish exactly nothing.
That assumes that one player (or a small number of players) are capable of doing just as much damage to the commons as the entire population is. This is simply not the case. I agree that it will be important to cut emissions in other nations. It does not follow that having some of the players reduce their emissions is of zero benefit.
If any of Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, or the Chinese refuse to sign, you're just destroying the American economy without ANY advantage for the athmosphere.
Rephrasing what you just said, "If the US cuts its carbon emissions, Iran, North Korea, and or China will increase their carbon emissions by an equal amount in order to make it a net gain of zero." The only reason why this might actually happen is if we stupidly allow the offshoring of carbon-intensive production to non-capped countries. Otherwise, any country that doesn't participate is simply going to continue to produce whatever they perceive to be the optimal amount of CO2 emissions.