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Thursday, December 04, 2008

To curb demand for oil, add a tax when prices tank | ajc.com

[Link: ajc.com] "What is to be done? As economists have long recognized, the most economically efficient way to alter the behavior of consumers — to use less oil — and businesses — to develop products that allow consumers to use less oil — is to raise the cost. And if the market can’t be counted on to send reliable price signals, then a tax can be used to ensure that the cost remains high enough to encourage the desired behavior."


This proposal has the proverbial snowball's chance of getting any support but there is a bigger problem. Where is the extra electrical capacity going to come from when all those tens of millions of electric cars are plugged in every night. We need to up the power available, somehow, without using more hydrocarbon fuel. Nuclear? More coal? Impossible extension of the alternate power pool? It just ain't that easy folks.