John Wolff wrote:

> Tom Friedman of the NYTimes had a good  suggestion on June 23. Check it
> out at
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/opinion/24friedman.html?_r=1

Unfortuntely, Friedman is one of the "tax makes change" folks, long
after we have recognized that gasoline is not price-elastic in the long run.

What the gov't needs to do is legislate. That's what we put them there
to do.

Legislate a prohibition of manufacture of gasoline powered autos for,
say, 2013. The energy companies would have to hire hundreds of thousands
of people to convert gas stations to natural gas and electric, the auto
companies would spend billions re-tooling for natural gas and electric.
State of the art nuclear plants would sprout like mushrooms.

The resulting boom would raise the standard of living and cut
unemployment like the late '40s/early '50s. The oil-producing nations
would become our vassals.

Taxes don't work, and taxes on energy are radically inverse.

m

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