We need campaign finance reform

I’m opposed to the Cap-and-Trade scheme making its way through Congress as the Waxman-Markey bill. I strongly support greenhouse gas reductions but the 1,400 page Waxman-Markey bill is a corporate boondoggle that only Wall Street traders and speculators could love.

My preference is for a Carbon Tax with 100 percent dividend refunded directly to citizens on a per capita basis. This is simple to administer, revenue neutral for the government, would flow through to all activities and industries, and provides appropriate incentives and market signals. Those who pollute less than average would actually be subsidized by those who pollute more than average. While this is a simple solution, you can count on Washington to overlook this in favor of their lobbyist ridden legislation.

My strong opposition to Cap-and-Trade is due to the fact that I don’t think it goes far enough and we don’t have time to waste on half measures. It’s a scam that is going to transfer billions of dollars to speculators and polluters and because it fails to accomplish much, other countries don’t see the US response as meaningful or credible. As Dr. James Hansen points out in his recent entry on The Huffington Post, this measure will create a decade or more delay before we’ll get another chance to create an economically and ecologically sound climate change policy.

I have the same sick feeling about health care reform. While the best shot at getting a comprehensive, affordable and universal health insurance plan is HR676 (Single Payer Health Care system), it isn’t even being discussed due to the pervasive influence of corporate lobbyists. My fear is we adopt some weak and ineffective system that sets back real reform another decade or two.

I’ve been a Single-Payer supporter since I first learned about the idea of universal health care back in 1991. I’ve been waiting 18 years now. I’d love to see the US solve this problem but we won’t get there if we allow corporate lobbyists to set the agenda like we have with carbon.

I'm opposed to the Cap-and-Trade system

I believe we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and we need to do it quickly.  I also believe a market solution is the best solution. While I laud the goals of carbon reduction, I believe a Cap-and-Trade (CAT) system is an unnecessarily complicated scheme only Wall Street could love (and politicians afraid of the word “tax” and US citizens to dumb to understand CAT is a tax.) 

CAT is essentially a carbon tax wrapped into a security.  Do we really trust Wall Street and the financial speculators to responsibly handle a trillion dollar market created to equitably solve a social problem?  I don’t.

Instead, I support a simpler, more transparent, and easier to understand, straight-forward Carbon Tax with 100% dividend distribution to U.S. citizens.  With a 100% dividend distribution, this tax would be revenue neutral for the government since all proceeds would be returned to the people in the form of a rebate.

The tax would be collected as the fuels enter the US market and that would be it.  The additional cost would flow through the system and affect all CO2 emitters.  This would internalize the price of polluting, making it more expensive to emit CO2. 

Since all monies collected would be refunded, those that pollute less than average would actually get a net rebate while those who pollute more than average would be the ones ultimately paying more.

The tax code is regularly and successfully used to promote or discourage certain behaviors.   I believe a simple, revenue neutral Carbon Tax is the way to reduce carbon quickly and fairly.

A Carbon Tax is supported by both Al Gore and NASA scientist and climate expert Jim Hansen.