An interesting analysis that reinforces my own thoughts about the IRA bill. I am perhaps not as negative as you and many of the other commentators. However, I think we all arrive at the same place, in terms of fighting the Climate Disaster that has started unfolding, this bill is unrealistic and ineffective.

Unlike you, I don't see evil intent in the EV tax credit weirdness. They desperately want to "deglobalize" production and bring manufacturing back to the US. The $52 Billion down payment on boosting US production of computer chips shows how Washington has woken up to the strategic danger of having your biggest rival make all of your consumer goods.

And there is the real problem with the IRA from the Climate Change perspective, it's not really about Climate Change.

It's about bringing EV manufacturing back to the US. It's about boosting solar panel manufacturing in the US. It's about all sorts of things that will be good "in the long run". But it does nothing proactive in and of itself.

It uses the old paradigm of governance.

It encourages change through "tax credits" and "consumer rebates". Indirect methods that we know will work, given enough time. If we had done this in 1992 it would have been game changing.

As it stands, it is too little, too late, and articulates no plan or goals. It is a solution crafted by people who don't realize how rapidly things are getting worse.

FYI: Global CO2 emissions are up 2.5% year over year for this date. We are losing.