Hacker News Reader

Comment by PaulHoule | Hacker News Reader

By that argument, chemical companies would not have allowed the switch from CFCs to HFCs and then the switch from HFCs to fluoroketones.

Actually the chemical industry made huge amounts of $$$ from each transition. For instance, you can't get a generic asthma inhaler now because all of the CFC-free formulations are patented and by the time those go off patent they will have finally determined it is safe to puff fluoroketones and they will ban HFCs and there will be another decades of paying extra for asthma inhalers.

View on HN

Not quite the same. In the switchover from CFC to HFC, it was mainly the same companies making both chemicals. In the switchover from fossil fuels to renewable/green energy, you are moving production from one group of well established suppliers to a group of mostly newcomers. While many of the larger energy suppliers are invested in numerous energy plays, the bulk have a singular focus on one energy source. (Source: family in petroleum industry).

My argument wasn't absolute. Many, many incumbents have blocked important social change. Exxon is a classic energy example (covering up climate change once they knew it was happening). Another is the maker of TurboTax blocking reforms to the US tax filing system because it would have killed their product.

Sometimes big industries suffer due to policy decisions. Sometimes they take advantage of change and make money. Sometimes they use their money to fight the change instead.

Oil companies happen to fall into the last category with no sign things will change.

If Exxon is covering up climate change, they are doing a pretty damn poor job of it considering the hysteria in most media about it.

The tax system was insane long before Turbo Tax came on the scene. Sure they may have a vested interest in the status quo but they didn't create the insanity and they are not the primary cause it's not being reduced.

They did cover it up and had a lot of success: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil_climate_change_co...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com