Trenger vi nytenking om skatt, overføringer og sosial rettferdighet?

Vi bør kanskje tenke på effektive motkonjunkturforslag nå når økonomien tar seg en hvilepause eller kanskje en nedtur. Dette kan jo bli forsterket hvis oljeprisene faller. Dette vil kunne utløse flere bomber. Den ene at et prisfall i eiendom vil redusere husholdningenes egenkapital og eksponere vår allerede høye gjeldsgrad. Forbruket, som er på et svært høyt nivå vil falle, med raskt økende arbeidsledighet som resultat. En redusert oljepris vil dessuten føre til oppbremsing av offshore investeringene, med følger for en rekke verdikjeder.

Økonomiske sykluser må forventes. I Norge har vi være dyktige og heldige hittil og har ungått de økonomiske drama som har rammet ellers.

Men - kunne dette være en god tid for å tenke nytt istedet for å flikke på det gamle?

OK, la oss se: 

1. Vi fjerner alle nåværende skattefradrag for personlige skatteytere, inklusive renter.
2. Hver skatteyter får istedet et minstefradrag på 200,000 kroner.
3. All personlig inntekt over 200,000 kroner beskattes med 25 %. 
4. Utbytte blir beskattet med 25 %.
5. Toppskatten fjernes.
6. Arveavgift fjernes
7. Formueskatt fjernes
8. Eiendomsskatt bør innføres nasjonalt.
9. Skatt på overskudd i næring reduseres til 25 %.
10. MVA på ubearbeidet mat fjernes.
11. Vi innfører karbonskatt.

Noter:

1. Dette blir en dramatisk forenkling. Innføres gradvis over en 5-års periode. Det vil medføre at hver skatteyter får stor frihet til å forvalte sin økonomi etter egne prioriteter. Det vil også si at de som er nederst på inntektsstigen knapt vil betale skatt og føre til store forenklinger innen overføringer fra det offentlige. Inntektstapet vil med andre or kunne kompenseres ved at overføringer blir redusert, og ikke minst at byråkratiet vil kunne forenkles.
2. Dette er i stor grad tenkt som et fordelingsgrep. Mange pensjonister og folk med lave inntekter vil få et enklere liv.
3. Folk med høy lønn eller mye kapital må skatte på alle intekter over 200,000 kroner og utbytte. Dette betyr at uttak som brukes til "fritt konsum" beskattes med samme prosentsats som MVA. Dette vil stimulere til sparing. I motsatt fall, trenger du en Porsche Carrera må du først ilegges 25 % skatt på uttaket som skal finansiere bilen. Pluss MVA, bilavgift etc. etc.
4. Det er viktig å ha like skattesatser for å redusere skatteplanlegging
5. Ditto
6. Dette er særdeles viktig i landbruket og for eiere av historiske anlegg som det er kostbart å holde vedlike.
7. Dette vil styrke egenkapitalen og gjøre bedriftene mer robuste.
8. Eiendomskatt er en måte for de som bygger og bor dyrt å bidra til kommunekassa. I UK har de Council Tax som har samme funksjon. Eiendommer som man ikke har valgt å ha, typisk med kukturhistorisk verdi eller fredede bygg bør få rabatt. Hva med null eiendomsskatt på bygg med en alder over 150 år og som har vært i samme familie i samme tid?
9. Den faktiske skatten som ilegges kan videre justeres ved hjelp av avskrivningsregler.
10. Fedmeepedemien er forårsaket av fabrikkmat med for mye salt, sukker og redusert næringsinnhold. Det er spesielt viktig å stimulere folk med dårlig råd til å spise sunt og billig. Da må man lage maten fra grunnen av. MVA frihet her vil ha stor betydning. Dette vil dessuten fornkle hverdagen for bønder, som nå lettere kan selge direkte til forbruker og derved fjerne fordyrende mellomledd. Mer til bonden - mindre kostnad for forbruker.
11. Vi må betale den reelle kostnaden våre forbruksvaner belaster miljøet med. Hvis vi tør ilegge en rettferdig karbonskatt har vi løst provenygapet.

Potential battery revolution

The University of Illinois has recently created a potentially revolutionary breakthrough in battery technology. Interestingly, it does not rely on a new chemistry, at least not initially, but rather on the geometry of the physical battery construction.

By designing a nano size porous structure with a precisely dimensioned metal lattice separating the pores, they have reduced the travel distance between the anode and cathode chemicals, where the electrolyte as the transfer medium has a much simpler job due to the dramatically shortened transport distance of the electrically charged ions.

The consequence of this is that the battery has a tenfold size reduction per unit of energy density and can be charged 1,000 times faster than today's batteries. 

This means it would take the same time to fully recharge an electric vehicle as it would take to refill the fuel tank.

The technology is being commercialized by http://xerionbattery.com/

The pore structure would look something like this:

Your smartphone would now get fully charged in 10 seconds and you car in 5 minutes after driving 1,000 miles on one battery.

Folks, if we can accelerate the production of renewable energy and add a € 50 per ton carbon tax on everything, we may stop at the edge of the precipice or perhaps not get crushed in the fall if we go over. But only if we act fast and on a massive scale!

How would you like your car engine in your wheel?

The rest of the story: http://bit.ly/tXcbKf

Lets do lightbulbs - The graphics says it all

Musings on the Financial Meltdown

The whole mess can be distilled into a surprisingly simple observation, and it is deeply disturbing that this has not understood and acted upon by those that we have elected to represent us.
There is another more sinister explanation - that they have been manipulated into agreeing to abolish the Glass-Steagall Act and allow an unregulated financial free-for-all.
Anyway - here goes: If debt increases faster than value creation value gets destroyed. Simple.
This I seem to remember was understood by us as undergraduate students in 1970!
One cannot escape the suspicion that the financial industry have wilfully constructed a structure where increasingly fancy "products" have been invented where enough fees are paid up front to make it look suspiciously like a ponzi scheme.
Let us take a household as an example. The situation is analogous on a national level.
If we wish to invest and consume in excess of our income, we must borrow. This implies that we use resources in advance of having created the value - hence the value must be created later. This implies risk. 
This works if the assets we invest in increase in value, and if our income grows making debt repayment easy.
This is fine on an individual level in a growing economy. If, however, you get systemic debt expansion to finance investment and consumption over extended periods, asset values will expand to levels where new entrants will be unable to fund new investments and the bubble will burst.
The ensuing collapse in asset values will cause an economic contraction, reducing the ability of households to maintain debt repayments and a stable level of consumption. This is what is happening now.
In Norway, also known as "Cloud ptarmigan land", all interest payments are tax deductible for personal tax payers. The state subsidizes the property asset bubble and our mad consumerist frenzy. Our 20 % credit card interest is tax deductible. Amazing!
If we replace the interest tax deduction with a single, simple deduction equivalent to your "dignity income" that will fix it. That gives the individual freedom to determine how to manage their disposable income without artificial stimulants.
Equally important and not well appreciated is the poverty trap created by the state by loading those on the bottom of the income pyramid with too many costs and complexities. This causes economic and psychological anxiety and is a major contributor to the spiralling social and medical costs we are experiencing.
At the macroeconomic level, however, Norway is a shining example of probity and fiscal discipline  Hat off for that!!
Governments in the post Reagan - Thatcher era, inspired by monetarists and economic  liberalism with blind faith in "free" markets, deregulation and complete freedom for financial institutions to create weird and wonderful financial "products" are in the process of destroying society as we know it.
At a national level in many other countries, politicians have borrowed big time for infrastructure, welfare and "social consumption" Fine in the short term, and a winner if you want to get back in office.
The wanton borrowing frenzy by Greece is probably the most glaring example here.
Low interest rates have been a major contributor.
Getting out of this mess will be tough as hell and will take a long time.
Enough for now.

Energy for All - effective lighting and cooking for low income rural communities

Item one: Cooking Problem statements:

Charcoal based cooking is harmful:

• Gathering fuel too labour/energy inefficient 
• Produces CO2
• Destroys tree cover
• Emits harmful smoke
• Harms respiratory systems and health
• Soot particles from cooking increases global warming

Solution: World Stove

This device can be manufactured by local micro entrepreneurs and is relatively simple to make. It is 93% energy efficient. It burns a wide range of biomass. Straw, husks, twigs etc. It is essentially a biochar device in that gases produced by the pyrolysis is emitted at the top and is used for cooking. The flame acts as an oxygen trap and allows the biomass below to be turned into biochar after it has emitted the combustible gases.

The result of this is amazing!!

• It is carbon negative
• It can provide a household with clean cooking
• It produces biochar which will dramatically improve soil quality and improve yields.

Result: Clean, energy efficient, sustainable environmental micro business. 

Here is a video showing it all:

Item Two: Household and reading lighting Problem Statement:

In a rural setting with no electric power, kerosene is an expensive and dirty way to obtain light. Solar panels are moving in, but still quite expensive and complex with all the supporting paraphernalia like batteries etc.

Solution:

The Nuru Light.

LED lamps are sold by local entrepreneurs who then offer a charging service. The charger is a pedal generator, or potentially photo voltaic, or from the grid if there is power nearby. 20 minutes of pedaling charges the Ni-cad batteries in the lamps that will then last 9-25 hours depending on use intensity. The cost of a recharge is a fraction of the cost of kerosene.

This video should explain it:

Happy reading and viewing!

Possible paradigm shift in engine technology?

Here is the principle copied from the website of: www.tocircle.com

Problems have given birth to most innovations throughout history. The challenge that triggered Tocircle’s engineers was the need for improving the Wankel engine.

The beauty of the Tocircle machine is that the piston moves in a perfect circle. It rotates within a cylinder around the central drive shaft. The circular motion makes the motor almost vibration-free and exceptionally quiet. Vanes create chambers which give the rotary machine a constant moment arm and an impressively high rotation momentum.

The solution turned out to reach far beyond what it was meant to solve in the outset. Knowing that 20 % of the world’s power is consumed by pump systems, it soon became obvious that the range of possible applications was vast. During the development period Tocircle has produced and tested pumps, compressors, expanders and combustion engines based on this unique invention.

In essence the Tocircle concept is a simple idea based on a new geometric principle. Tocircle Industries owns worldwide patents to the technology which can be used for engines, multiphase pumps, expanders, compressors, steam engines, injection pumps, vacuum pumps and more, in a variety of applications. The technology has the potential of becoming very important to petroleum, water and automotive industries.

It looks like: