The economics of Waxman-Markey
An insightful (if decidedly partisan) op-ed by Paul Krugman in Friday’s New York Times focuses on the Waxman-Markey climate change bill that was approved in the House but has stalled – due in no small part due to the debate over health care reform – in the Senate. Krugman points out that there are two kinds of people opposed to climate change legislation: those dwindling numbers who don’t believe climate change is happening at all, and those who believe it is happening but that any legislation will be too costly to the economy.
He says that in many cases, climate change legislation would cost the average family about $160 per year, but also that our use of energy right now is so inefficient that implementing more efficient technologies could actually save Americans money. Like opposition to health-care reform, he says, those who oppose Waxman-Markey rest their campaign “mainly on lies.”
Read the full article here.
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[...] we all want attitudes about greenhouse gases and reduction of energy use to change for the better (see this recent post), these projections strike me as severely optimistic. The small price tag is tantalizing, but [...]