Post by robertcunningham on Apr 6, 2015 11:37:23 GMT
Forget the scientific argument over climate change for the moment, or for that matter, assume that climate catastrophe is a certainty for purposes of discussion. From the beginning the climatistas and their media cheerleaders have confined all policy discussion to one single track: suppress fossil fuels, even though no affordable, scalable substitutes for hydrocarbon energy are in sight.
The practical ideas for the suppression of hydrocarbon energy have taken two forms: the favorite is emissions trading (“cap and trade”), which failed in Congress when Democrats still enjoyed large majorities in both houses, chiefly because the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill was so chock full of special interest deals and cross subsidies that it became apparent even to honest environmentalists (yes—they meet in a phone booth at DuPont Circle) that the bill was a mockery of serious climate legislation.
Carbon Tax Trap copyThe second idea, which finds some favor among some conservatives and even libertarians, is a carbon tax. To be sure, in the abstract, a carbon tax would allow the diffuse mechanism of prices to dictate how people should change the energy mix, which is far superior to the arcane world of emissions trading. And it is often suggested, as I observed George Shultz doing here a little while ago, that a “revenue-neutral” carbon tax could be rebated to taxpayers, or used to reduce other taxes (corporate income? capital gains?) that retard economic growth and efficiency.
www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/04/the-mask-slips-on-the-climate-scam.php
The practical ideas for the suppression of hydrocarbon energy have taken two forms: the favorite is emissions trading (“cap and trade”), which failed in Congress when Democrats still enjoyed large majorities in both houses, chiefly because the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill was so chock full of special interest deals and cross subsidies that it became apparent even to honest environmentalists (yes—they meet in a phone booth at DuPont Circle) that the bill was a mockery of serious climate legislation.
Carbon Tax Trap copyThe second idea, which finds some favor among some conservatives and even libertarians, is a carbon tax. To be sure, in the abstract, a carbon tax would allow the diffuse mechanism of prices to dictate how people should change the energy mix, which is far superior to the arcane world of emissions trading. And it is often suggested, as I observed George Shultz doing here a little while ago, that a “revenue-neutral” carbon tax could be rebated to taxpayers, or used to reduce other taxes (corporate income? capital gains?) that retard economic growth and efficiency.
www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/04/the-mask-slips-on-the-climate-scam.php