Posted on 05/31/2004 3:00:40 AM PDT by sarcasm
Copenhagen, Denmark - In addition to oil prices hovering at record levels, some economists say a carbon tax would encourage Americans to curb wasteful energy consumption that contributes to global warming.
Three prominent economists appearing here for the global economics conference "Copenhagen Consensus" agreed that the chances of approving a carbon tax during an election year are slim. Consumers would face the tax at the gas pump.
Gas prices have risen steadily in Denver from about $1.50 a gallon in June to about $2.02 now.
Americans wouldn't like the additional hike, but they must start thinking seriously about how to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, the economists said. If left unchecked, rising temperatures could have profound negative effects on agriculture around the world and decrease the global gross domestic product by billions of dollars each year, scientists say.
A carbon tax would be a more efficient means of addressing problems tied to global warming than many other measures that have won favor on the world stage, according to the economists: William Cline, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C.; Harvard University professor Robert Mendelsohn; and Stanford University professor Alan Manne.
"There is a fundamental disconnect in the United States," Mendelsohn said. "Ask average Americans if they want to get rid of global warming, and many will say, 'Oh, yes.' But ask them if they'll give up their big cars and SUVs, and they'll say they couldn't do that. They need a little push."
Opponents of carbon taxes contend they hurt businesses through reduced exports, especially of coal, and artificially add to the cost of economic production.
Americans' fuel consumption doesn't translate well around the world and is underscored by the United States' refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, an international policy negotiated in 1997 to prevent climate change. The treaty sets limits on emissions of carbon dioxide for industrialized nations but makes no demands on developing countries.
This month, Russia has hinted that it may ratify the protocol, which would put it into effect. The United States has consistently refused to join, in part because of the expense of drastic measures that would have to be implemented to meet the treaty's emissions standards and also because the treaty doesn't demand developing countries' compliance.
"This is not just a problem for rich countries to pay to solve," Mendelsohn said.
While the men agree that a carbon tax would be one financially sound way to fight global warming, they disagree about how high the tax should be. Their differences largely stem from conflicting views about the damage global warming will cause over the next century.
Cline claims that profound economic damages from global warming will be seen by 2050 and recommends a steep tax of $150 per ton of carbon - which he said would add roughly 45 cents to the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
"We must develop a policy that sends a strong signal that carbon has a strong price attached to it," Cline said. "If we don't, we will not get a stimulus for technological and cultural change that are desperately needed to face the disastrous consequences of global warming head on."
Mendelsohn and Manne share far less dire views of the effects of global warming and propose carbon tax rates of $12 and $2 per ton, respectively.
Both men said they would prefer to see the taxes rise as future generations determine a need for them.
"We want to stop (global warming), but we don't need to tax ourselves to death today to do it," Mendelsohn said. "We want to give the people who come after us the flexibility to decide the policies that best suit their needs.
"Greenhouse gas abatement is expensive and must be done efficiently - and we can all agree with that," he added.
Three words....kiss...my...ass
Read More about underwater volcanic activity.
All these kinds of articles start with the premis that global warming is real. Then they blame it on the US and continue with the BS.
The carbon tax is taken from the Kyoto Protocal and is a plan to make the United States subservient to a world authority.
Here is a well written review about Kyoto, the carbon tax, and the impact on US!
The Road to Kyoto: How the Global Climate Treaty Fosters Economic Impoverishment and Endangers U.S. Security
by Angela Antonelli, Brett D. Schaefer, and Alex Annett
Link below
Besides sacrificing our own sovereignty to an unknown foreign bureacracy the economic fallout of this approach would result in making the US less competitive because it stimulates our successful industries to move to less developed countries. The end result would be to reduce the US competitiveness, slow our economy, and jeopardize our home land security.
Here is the link > http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/BG1143.cfm . Please read the section titled "Economic Winners and Losers Around the World"
The study predicts that if implemented, chemical, steel, aluminum, paper, and concrete companies will move to less developed countries. The cost per household in this country is projected to be $30,000 because of the increased costs for energy. Of course, the loss of jobs would be devastating!!!
Source?
I've thought the same thing for several years. It is known that when the sun's solar constant increases (which we know is happening) that it's magnetic field also increases. It is known that a conductor moving in a magnetic field generates an electric current. It is known that the molten rock in the earth's depths are electrically conductive. The earth moves within the sun's magnetic field. Therefore, there is a THIRD MECHANISM for increased "global warming" besides the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and the light-induced surface warming of the earth. Yet show me a "global warming" model which considers such a mechanism AT ALL.
I believe it is possible that the increasing level of CO2 just may be an EFFECT of solar induced global warming rather than a CAUSE from increased vulcanism.
One thought to ponder: He says that recent storms and flooding in the South had raised his concerns. Fifteen inches of rain falling over a three day period would have been equal to 150 inches of snowfall during the winter. 150 inches of snow would have collapsed most single story structure in the region and buried all forms of transportation.
Electromagnetic relationships between the sun and solar system have not been studied in regard to its effects on the earth's weather patterns. Sad, but true.
Europe may wake up later this year or next year to discover they are freezing in the cold.
Europeans thinking up ways to tax Americans. I guess that's the European vision of Utopia. America works and pays taxes... Europe thinks up new tax schemes for Americans.
Not one of these blabbing con-men can tell me what the weather will be a week from Sunday.
You know what I'm tired of? Being told that I, along with millions of other Americans, am being wasteful.
How am I being wasteful? By driving to and from work everyday? By heating and cooling my house? By cooking out every once in a while? By mowing my lawn?
Do I not have a right to do these things? Is it my fault that fuel prices in Europe far exceed those here in the states?
Is someone going to tell me that a third world country has better pollution standards than here?
These Kyoto countries are jealous that they can't do the same things we are able to do.
I have seriously thought about it and concluded I don't give a rats rear end about greenhouse gas emissions.
It's called redistribution of American wealth.
My sentiments exactly.
What state, are they planning to lobby first?
FYI, the state of Connecticut is committed to
reduce carbon use by 75%,
these people should take their arguments to the
various statehouses.
I just read (article somewhere here on FR) that the Russians are dumping Kyoto. I don't remember the title. I should have left a comment so I could find it quicker.
That wasn't hard.
"Russian Opposition to Kyoto Growing"
Rush was on a riff about "global warming" last week.
Knowledgeable scientists he reports, have observed that the sun is one of its periodic "hot" cycles.
That and the bloviating hot air producing Eco-Terrorist Whackos are the leading cause of "global warming," IMHO.
These brilliant economists are absolutely correct about energy taxes curbing CO2 greenhouse gases, which as we all know, are the ONLY source of global warming.
The chart below shows all the times that energy taxes in America were hiked in the last 425,000 years, and the subsequent drop in global temperature:
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