> There would be no economic loss.
Taking cash from the economy, which is a productive asset, useful for investment, and purchasing land which you plan to do nothing with, is most definitely an economic loss. There is no question about this step.
>It's hard to get exact numbers
and
>I think the basic idea is sound
So give us an estimate. Mine is orders of magnitude above what billionaires could affect. It's vastly more than the difference between the gap between value of coal versus mineral rights. I produced a first estimate. Hand waving without giving a more refined estimate does not make it go away.
Another factor is to slow down production today one has to buy more than mineral rights - one has to buy working mines, possibly related infrastructure/equipment/contracts if the mine owner (or other interested/entwined parties) have investment that goes to waste if the mine closes, etc. So the above, merely estimating the coal, while a simple estimate, may be close to actual costs involved to purchasing the coal mining industry out from under itself.
You also ignore the fact I stated that as places get purchased, since this does not change demand, so other places will simply produce more or more places will become coal mines.
The billionaire plan, even at its most perfect execution, is unlikely to affect the overall production much at all.
Taking cash from the economy, which is a productive asset, useful for investment, and purchasing land which you plan to do nothing with, is most definitely an economic loss. There is no question about this step.
>It's hard to get exact numbers
and
>I think the basic idea is sound
So give us an estimate. Mine is orders of magnitude above what billionaires could affect. It's vastly more than the difference between the gap between value of coal versus mineral rights. I produced a first estimate. Hand waving without giving a more refined estimate does not make it go away.
Another factor is to slow down production today one has to buy more than mineral rights - one has to buy working mines, possibly related infrastructure/equipment/contracts if the mine owner (or other interested/entwined parties) have investment that goes to waste if the mine closes, etc. So the above, merely estimating the coal, while a simple estimate, may be close to actual costs involved to purchasing the coal mining industry out from under itself.
You also ignore the fact I stated that as places get purchased, since this does not change demand, so other places will simply produce more or more places will become coal mines.
The billionaire plan, even at its most perfect execution, is unlikely to affect the overall production much at all.