People don't need AC's, let's tax them:

AC: It's not as cool as you think
Artificial cooling has had a profound effect on how, and where, we live and work.


When a national group of urban planning historians was asked to rank the most important influences on the American metropolis in the last half of the 20th century, their top 10 list focused on social, economic and political developments. Of the many technological devices that helped shape our lives during that era, only two made the list: the automobile and the air conditioner.

The car culture's impact on cities and suburbs has been the subject of heated debate for decades. But all the while, humming away inconspicuously in the background, air conditioning also has been changing the way we live and changing us, and not always for the better.

In 1960, air conditioning was found in only 12% of U.S. homes and 20% of cars. Even in the South, only 18% of homes had it. Today, 85% of homes nationwide have air conditioning, and virtually no new house or car is built without it.

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The ascendancy of air conditioning has had its most obvious impact on our choice of where to live. Between 1960 and 2009, the population of the Northeast Census region grew by 23% and that of the Midwest by 28%. Meanwhile, the South swelled by 96% and the West ballooned by 143%. A mass migration-within-a-migration led millions of families to the vast suburbs that sprouted on the cheap land ringing Sunbelt cities — and air conditioning made hot, humid and mosquito-infested regions more habitable.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-cox-ac-20100718,0,2258135.story

And one shower ever couple of days, instead of one or more a day.

I tell you, we need to get the government to regulate and tax everything because I can't trust any of you or control you. It is pissing me off to no end that folks just ain't voluntarily living according to my bible I wrote. We gots to tax more and more - people don't need their money, and hell we have those wars to pay for.

Give up your AC, it is harming the earth and therefore me. I don't smoke in your bars, don't belch chemicals you don't need from AC/cars into my atmosphere and the air I breathe.

There....I think I finally got the hang of this control and tax thing. It is fun and you can just make up shit as to why something is bad and should be controlled/taxed.

that I've seen.

I wonder while people are anti-AC for those of us that live in the South, why don't I read more articles against the heating oil used in the north? While I need AC, I'm using natural gas and not heating oil throughout the winter months.

:shrug:

And no, I'm not anti-heating for those in the northern states, I just find this curious all of a sudden this anti-AC during the summer.

The OP is still trying to justify why cigarettes should not be taxed.

What is good for the goose....

we have 2 heat pumps. they cool us in the summer and heat us in the winter, but they don't go on unless it's very cold.

self righteous hypocrites who want everything they need but resent anyone else getting anything

won't be able to afford ubiquitous air conditioning, individually and as a society, whether we like it or not. And that goes for cooling and heating, at least the way we're doing it now.

We did without air conditioners in this house from 1976 to around 2003. Then we got a few window ac's. Now I don't know how we did without them for so many years. I've chalked it up to aging. But it might just be a physically learned intolerance to heat brought on by using air conditioners.

The more you seek comfort, the narrower your comfort level becomes, until you hardly have a comfort zone at all. As the economy continues to collapse, this will become just way too damned obvious. At least for me. I like comfort. A lot.

And sales tax on all the "paraphenalia" that goes with (lighters, shot glasses, mixers, ashtrays, pipes, etc.) all the "sin tax" stuff.

Didn't stop NY from raising the tax on cigarettes until they cost $10/pack (+/-)...

Just saying...

But I remember when last winter's snowstorms were their cited evidence that global warming is a hoax.
Now, it's the sound of crickets even though there are heat waves in Europe and the U.S.

next winter I'm sure. Summer will be forgotten by then. :)

a small one that was in the bedroom. the apartment was not wired for it. if we turned on the toaster with the AC on the fuse would blow.

we got our first air conditioned car in 1974. what a pleasure.

Makes just as much sense.

Not every night in Ohio is cool and breezy. Hasn't been that way for the past two weeks.

I was just up in Maine 2 weeks back, along the NH border. The house we stayed at didn't have AC, mostly because you don't generally need it in New England due to their cool nights. The last two days were a nightmare - no breeze at all and the house was 85 degrees inside. The only fan had to be put in the kids room so they could sleep. We were all trying to find a place where some air was coming in. It would only come in spurts, none the rest of the time. My aunt's boyfriend even said he's never seen Rangeley this hot.

Opposition to taxes is undemocratic.

That said, taxing A/C could kill people in my community. Maybe even me, and likely my pets and my patients. Taxing electricity use (raising existing taxes, IOW) would be more appropriate.

not much different than tea partiers who resent big government if it helps anyone but themselves!

you were more aware of your environment, neighbors and the weather......

you're certainly aware of it. 45C makes you even more aware.

What ever will we do?


Just in case: :sarcasm:

also had an in-ground swimming pool. Needless to say, their kids were very popular!

:o

Of which widespread A/C usage is a part of.

The air conditioning went out and I couldn't get the landlord to authorize its repair for over a month. The kids and I went to a dollar movie nearly every night. Didn't really care whether it was an age appropriate movie or not, it was cool. Came home after work one evening and the rat was dead--heat exhaustion. After that I told him that could have been just as easily one of the kids and if my kids died from the heat, I would sue, win, and own the building. The HVAC contractor was appalled that we had gone as long as we did with no AC. He said that it was a wonder we weren't all dead and what the landlord had failed to do was illegal and cited the municipal code about the fines for not maintaining the AC. Contractor made such a stink that landlord gave us 1/2 month's rent for our trouble.

haven't you heard of fatalities due to heat waves? I suspect the GOP might get on board with you - at least no money to subsidize heat or air conditioning

And we passed a HELLA tax on cigarettes.

Well, not really, I am sick to death of taxes and talk of taxes to fund wars and politicians' egos and bridges to nowhere, or whatever hare-brained idea someone in power comes up with.

Note to all those in the south, I would not choose to live without a/c there. Lived in Houston for years and would not have survived without it. But although we have had some extreme heat and humidity in W PA this summer, I usually have no problem finding ways to keep cool.

I'd say we're already there.

A person in Vermont was getting all self righteous about how those of us in the deep South and the desert West should give up air conditioning..

What is wrong with this picture?

Does the OP live somewhere that their house is going to be 110 degrees inside with 90 percent humidity in August?

could just move to Vermont.

That'd make the poster real happy, I would imagine.

n/t

screw that. :smoke:

and air conditioning made hot, humid and mosquito-infested regions more habitable. Ah yep, dang skippy. :evilgrin:

Live out in the country and have to drive a long way to work? Move!

See how easy it is to solve problems? If you need a job and there is a place in Montana hiring - you should just rent a truck and move. Never mind the cost of moving, trying to get a new place when you do, etc. All you have to do is move to someplace else.

So in a sense - those needed AC have brought that need on themselves. So we tax it to death and they will move to a place that does not need it so much.

It is all so simple to some people.

Tax what you don't like to influence others to be like you.

Next up - an abortion tax from the R's - because you don't need to have sex, you want to.

Why not just put a exhale tax on the books. Works great, if it's too hot, people are panting, more revenue. If it's too cold, people are trying to warm up, blowing on their hands, more revenue. :evilgrin:

We don't choose this system. Wind, solar, and geothermal energy--and proper construction could give us better lives here in the South. But none of those benefit capital so they will never happen in a capitalist state.

While I first admit I live in Maine, we too in the height of summer can get hit pretty hard with heat as well. However strategically placing fans throughout the house to manage airflow and closing off certain doors and being sure to shut all windows and blinds can keep the house naturally 20 degree below the temperature outside. It saves a ton of energy/money in the summer months if you have a basement chances are the air down there will be rather cool so find a way to circulate through the house.

Also not being fat helps a lot too. just saying.

Last month was the hottest June recorded worldwide, figures show: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jul/16/june-2010-warmest-recorded

Discussion of this year's Arctic ice sheets: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x250539#253825

Hudson Bay polar bears 'could soon be extinct': http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/hudson-bay-polar-bears-could-soon-be-extinct-2026755.html


If climate models are even remotely close to accurate, we need to cut CO2 emissions 80% by 2050 to prevent catastrophic climate change. If you think taxing A/C is bad now, the measures we have to implement to moderate global warming will be downright draconian.