1.0Sightline Institutehttps://www.sightline.orgClark Williams-Derryhttps://www.sightline.org/profile/clark-williams-derry/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="FUzgu3IJIj"><a href="https://www.sightline.org/2011/08/29/super-cuts/">Super Cuts</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.sightline.org/2011/08/29/super-cuts/embed/#?secret=FUzgu3IJIj" width="600" height="338" title="“Super Cuts” — Sightline Institute" data-secret="FUzgu3IJIj" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); /* ]]> */ </script> https://www.sightline.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/green-scissors.gif145134In case you live under a rock, there's a bit of a hullaballoo over the federal budget right now, with a congressional "Super Committee" (co-chaired by Washington Senator Patty Murray) tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction measures by Thanksgiving. Well, if they're looking for cuts, the latest Green Scissors report, put together by a coalition of groups from across the political spectrum, has some pretty good suggestions. Trimming subsidies to fossil fuels ($61 billion), nuclear power ($50 billion), big agriculture ($57 bilion), highways ($107 billion) and so on would go a long way towards meeting the committee's deficit reduction goals. The problem, of course, is that the handful of folks who benefit from any particular subsidy fight tooth and nail to preserve it, while the costs are spread out so thin that most of us don't even realize we're paying them. It's that sort of asymmetry that makes anti-environmental subsidies especially hard to root out.