10 million dollars a minute that's 5.3 trillion dollars, more than the entire health spending of all the world's governments!
The picture is becoming clear. The reason fossil fuel extractors have been able to rule the world for the last century is because they are getting away with murder, literally. There are no consequences for the destruction they have caused to the health of the planet and to the health of our species.
The attention to this inequity is coming from some unexpected sources. None other than the IMF (International Monetary Fund), last century's evil boogieman, which required collateral of obedience to its strict conservative economic principals for loan assistance, is sounding the alarm.
The IMF has a new working paper (pdf) out that has totaled the collateral damage of the use of fossil fuels. Heather Smith over at Grist has the news and worked on the video below. You can watch the vid with no sound it's mainly graphics set to music.
Seriously. All the humans currently on this planet. They tallied up what we pay to help energy companies get fossil fuels out of the ground. The technical term for that is “pre-tax subsidies.”
Then they tallied up what we pay out for traffic accidents, and the health bills for those people whose pink little lungs are affected by air pollution, and so forth. The technical term for that is “post-tax subsidies.”
This is a big deal. Looking only at pre-tax subsidies is kinda like saying “Hey man, cigarettes curb my appetite, so I spend less money on food.” It may be worth it on your weekly Trader Joe’s run, but dammit that hospital bill is expensive.
Then they added both the pre-tax and the post-tax subsidies together. Voila! An almost-inconceivable number!
All that polluting, it's so last century. When groups like the IMF start talking about the real costs of fossil fuels, the changes they are a-coming, and fast.