http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2008/12/27/it-might-be-time/ Pricing carbon efficiently and equitably Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:04:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2008/12/27/it-might-be-time/comment-page-1/#comment-43779 David Ocampo G Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:09:18 +0000 http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2008/12/27/it-might-be-time/#comment-43779 I think the more encouraging essay is the one by Charles Krauthammer in the Weekly Standard. Amusingly, Mr Krauthammer avoids Anthropogenic Global Warming. Instead, he bases the need for the Carbon Tax more on economic and geopolitical considerations — and he does so amazingly well. I suspect he keeps tarring environmentalism as a leftist conspiracy, religion or somesuch, not because he believes it but because it helps proctect his conservative street cred. If so, so be it. He wants to call the Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax the "Net Zero" Carbon Tax; it brings to mind the Religious Right, calling it "Creation Care" because "Environmentalism" sticks in their craw. Hey, as long as he gives conservative cover to folks who might well want to favor the Carbon Tax but dare not, like the kid who might like to wear a new hair style but refrains because the "cool" kids don't. (As Juliet Montague expressed it to Romeo Capulet, "That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.") And Mr Krauthammer's economic analysis appears (at least to my non-economist eyes) to be basically sound. Now is the time for the Carbon Tax, yes indeed! I think the more encouraging essay is the one by Charles Krauthammer in the Weekly Standard. Amusingly, Mr Krauthammer avoids Anthropogenic Global Warming. Instead, he bases the need for the Carbon Tax more on economic and geopolitical considerations — and he does so amazingly well. I suspect he keeps tarring environmentalism as a leftist conspiracy, religion or somesuch, not because he believes it but because it helps proctect his conservative street cred. If so, so be it. He wants to call the Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax the "Net Zero" Carbon Tax; it brings to mind the Religious Right, calling it "Creation Care" because "Environmentalism" sticks in their craw. Hey, as long as he gives conservative cover to folks who might well want to favor the Carbon Tax but dare not, like the kid who might like to wear a new hair style but refrains because the "cool" kids don’t. (As Juliet Montague expressed it to Romeo Capulet, "That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.") And Mr Krauthammer’s economic analysis appears (at least to my non-economist eyes) to be basically sound. Now is the time for the Carbon Tax, yes indeed!

]]> http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2008/12/27/it-might-be-time/comment-page-1/#comment-43772 David Collins Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:16:38 +0000 http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2008/12/27/it-might-be-time/#comment-43772 It is always good to find voices in respected mainstream media speaking out in favor of the Carbon Tax. It is particularly sweet to hear these voices during an interregnum and time of multiple crises, when doing more than tweaking the knobs on the nation's control box is so feasible. In early summer, back when I was a kid, we would go to the lake for a swim. But a foot in the water told us the water was cold. Yeah. So a few brave kids would go partway out... into water above the knees. Maybe a bit more. But only when we got brave and jumped in (making sure to splash water on the sissies), whole body contact with the water, did we realize that the water was not all that cold, we could handle it... and in short order, everybody was swimming. This is no time for half-measures, like taxing only imported oil, or contracting Rube Goldberg & Associates to design complex schemes. It is time for whole body contact with the revenue-neutral carbon tax. Everything will work out just fine; as a matter of fact, swimmingly. It is always good to find voices in respected mainstream media speaking out in favor of the Carbon Tax. It is particularly sweet to hear these voices during an interregnum and time of multiple crises, when doing more than tweaking the knobs on the nation’s control box is so feasible. In early summer, back when I was a kid, we would go to the lake for a swim. But a foot in the water told us the water was cold. Yeah. So a few brave kids would go partway out… into water above the knees. Maybe a bit more. But only when we got brave and jumped in (making sure to splash water on the sissies), whole body contact with the water, did we realize that the water was not all that cold, we could handle it… and in short order, everybody was swimming. This is no time for half-measures, like taxing only imported oil, or contracting Rube Goldberg & Associates to design complex schemes. It is time for whole body contact with the revenue-neutral carbon tax. Everything will work out just fine; as a matter of fact, swimmingly.

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