I am always amazed at how people like to draw conclusions about what I write merely from the title, without actually reading everything I wrote. This is cross-posted from Coyote Blog, where I already am getting accusations of selling out. Please read before judging. I have proposed a carbon tax in a way that would be a net economic benefit even if one totally dismisses the threat of man-made global warming.
While I am not deeply worried about man-made climate change, I am appalled at all the absolutely stupid, counter-productive things the government has implemented in the name of climate change, all of which have costly distorting effects on the economy while doing extremely little to affect man-made greenhouse gas production. For example:
Even when government programs do likely have an impact of CO2, they are seldom managed intelligently. For example, the government subsidizes solar panel installations, presumably to reduce their cost to consumers, but then imposes duties on imported panels to raise their price (indicating that the program has become more of a crony subsidy for US solar panel makers, which is typical of these types of government interventions). Obama’s coal power plan, also known as his war on coal, will certainly reduce s
Brian Micklethwait