New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who I have posted about before is advocating a carbon tax, making him one of a few leading political figures, such as Al Gore and Christopher Dodd with that stand.He states, “If you want less of something, every economist will tell you to do the same thing: make it more expensive.” Of course, he says alot more, and the full text of his speech is posted here. It’s a good read.
Everytime someone advocates something sensible like this, reactionaries talk about how it will submarine the economy. ‘Oh no, it would destroy jobs and slow down our economy!’ This is bullshit. They said the same thing when gas was $1 a gallon, and people suggested increasing the gas tax by a few cents so we could, oh, I don’t know, maintain roads and bridges. And what happened? Gas prices have tripled (with all the money not going to roads and bridges, but to Exxon and Shell) and the world did not end. In fact, the economy is still humming along. As Mayor Bloomberg states in his speech, we can pay a tax on carbon, which would encourage new technologies and solutions, or we can pay in wars, fires, and other calamities. Oh, and fuel prices will probably still go up.
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