Re: The Case Against Cap in Trade
To me the greatest successes in real environmental progress are when you make green work economically as well as idealistically.
Take CFLs for example. They are a very successful product because they combine low evergy usage with convenience (they last years) and long term savings.
Meanwhile we have seen sales of hybrid cars fall faster than gas prices on a percentage basis. This is what happens when an industry treats environmental products like a fad. They overcharge or are inefficient in creating the product, making the cost prohibitive to everyone except for those who a) are "green freaks" or b) want to be fashionably politically correct. The first group is too small to market an automobile to, and the second disappears as soon as purchasing the cars becomes inconvenient. There vis nothing more inconvenient than a deep recession.
Until industry and government can create thoughtful, comprehensive solutions that are attractive to everyone and not just idealogues, posers and thr IRS, there will be no superior alternative.
Rediculous ideas like Cap in Trade won't help the environment at all. Instead companies will simply move the polution credits from one company to another, and we'll pay for each transaction. The only winner is the government who can tax the credit transactions that will be mandated by the government. (in Cap in Trade's current form)
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