Carbon Tax Folly

In his New York Times op-ed, Friedman calls for the imposition of a carbon tax¹.

Not only is this a terrible idea, but it’s totally unnecessary.

At $25 per ton, it could, according to Friedman, raise around $1 trillion over 10 years.

He recognizes this will hurt people, so suggests the government return some of our money to those in need.

What this really does is give the government even more control over our lives. Once again, Friedman believes it’s the government that creates jobs, by investing some of the money from the carbon tax to build roads etc.

Every time a stimulus is tried, whether it’s in the 1930s or more recently, it never works … it never creates jobs.

A carbon tax would kill jobs first, so the stimulus could only, at best, recreate the jobs lost.

Taking money from everyone with a carbon tax and then returning a fraction of it to a few people, doesn’t add money to the economy … it merely takes from one group who no longer have the money to spend, and gives it to another group in the hope they will spend it. The net result is no money added to the economy. Take a dollar from one person and give it to another doesn’t increase the money available to spend to stimulate the economy.

Remember, the carbon tax would tax virtually everything, from gasoline to electricity, including natural gas for heating our homes. It would increase manufacturing costs, such as for building automobiles, appliances and turbines. These plants use electricity and natural gas, which will be more expensive and add to the cost of building these products.

Our ability to export would be hurt because our products would cost more. More jobs lost.

From every perspective, a carbon tax is bad for people, bad for the economy and bad for America.

Not only is a carbon tax bad for America, it’s not necessary.

A new report from a group of Apollo astronauts and scientists has established, once again, that CO2 is not a threat and isn’t responsible in any significant way for global warming².

The question they posed and answered was:

“To what extent can human-related releases of CO2 into the atmosphere cause earth surface temperature increases that would have harmful effects?”

Quoting from their bullet point conclusions to whether CO2 could induce warming:

• “Carbon-based AGW science is not settled. This refers only to the Carbon or CO2 role in induced warming
• “Natural processes dominate climate change (although many are poorly understood).
• “Non-Carbon-based AGW anthropogenic forcings are significant. These include land use change, Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, black carbon, and aerosols.
• “Carbon-based AGW impact appears to be muted. Other sources are not necessarily muted; the impacts of changing solar activity, El Nino/La Nina-southern oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), black carbon, etc., are observable.
• “Empirical evidence for Carbon-based AGW does not support catastrophe.
• “The threat of net harmful total global warming, if any, is not immediate and thus does not require swift corrective action.
• “The US Government Is Over-Reacting to Concerns About Anthropogenic Global Warming.”

Also:

• “Computer Models Need To Be Validated Before Being Used In Critical Decision-Making.”

So, on one hand, we have Thomas L. Friedman, a writer of opinion based op-eds and books, and, on the other, a group of people who put astronauts on the moon and brought them back safely.

A carbon tax is a terrible idea.

1. This is actually a tax on CO2 emissions and not carbon. Carbon is entirely different than CO2. Carbon is found in pencils and blackboards. CO2 is required for life on earth.
2. The Right Stuff report is available at http://www.therightclimatestuff.com/AGW%20Science%20Assess%20Rpt-1

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