Fair Air Fare?

Excuse my logic but who hasn’t heard a friend or colleague exclaim “Next we’ll have to pay for the air we breathe!”  Is this as far fetched as it seems?

A friend of mine claims that he heard of some politician actually floating the idea of charging people for the oxygen they consume at individualized rates based on each person’s body weight.  As we have often heard, the United States in particular has a problem with obesity amongst the general population so we would quite literally be paying through the nose.

I looked up this concept on Google and Yahoo Search.  There is a smattering of posts by the general public addressing this idea.  There is no mention of the politician my friend referred to.  I would suggest then that we are in no imminent danger of having to pay for our oxygen.

However, there has been discussion on a major radio show about the inverse of this pay for oxygen gibberish.  I recall listening to a talk show host (it was either Michael Savage or Michael Smerconish) last year conjecture how in its mad dash to slow  CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, various world governments could one day outlaw the simple human act of exhaling.

So in the worst case scenario we would pay for the oxygen we breathe and then it would be illegal to exhale.  Talk about a conundrum?  I think back to when Bill Clinton uttered his now famous expression “I didn’t inhale.”  Pretty soon we could find all of ourselves saying the same thing.

With all of the above in mind, I herewith list other things that we take for granted which the fatalists probably believe we could one day absurdly be charged for.

Sunlight.  I don’t know the mechanics of how our exposure rates could be measured, but if there’s a way to make money off the Sun some enterprising government or corporation will do it.

Rain.  Aren’t most people already charged for the water they use?  So is this idea far off?

Noise.  Yes, we could be charged for the noise we make.  For years extremist environmentalists have complained about noise pollution.  Charging us for any sounds we make either purposefully or accidentally would be the defining moment for these zealots.

Happiness.  Misery loves company so the saying goes.  If our world were to be taken over by a really miserable dictatorial individual, happiness could come with a price.

Now all of this may sound like Orwellian thought for the 21^st Century but consider this. We now have people charging other people for the right to own a star in outer space.  We are told like it or not we have to wear seat belts.  The government will sometimes step in and mandate chemotherapy for a child against the parents’ wishes.  In China, a large percentage of families are allowed to have one child only. 

Getting back to the original point of this blog, namely the possibility that one day we could be charged for the oxygen we breathe.  Yes it could happen, but if you’ll pardon the pun, “Don’t hold your breath.”

 

Copyright 2011; Greg S.