Paul Krugman weighs in with an argument for auctioned cap and trade ASAP: legal emissions limits can be a macroeconomic stimulus.
"Cap & Trade, Quick!"—Krugman
A novel argument.
This article was written 13+ years ago
Alan Durning
Alan Durning is founder and executive director of Sightline Institute. His current topics of focus include housing affordability and democracy reform. Read his full bio. Email: alandurning [at] sightline [dot] org.
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Michelle
Alan, thanks for the good *tuba blast* of info to call our attention to Krugman’s thoughtful article! Reading his analysis more carefully, though, it might be appropriate to add some violin melody to fill in the gaps, lest we fall under a potential sub-category of what he calls “junk economics.” :-)He definitely stresses that NOW is the time for Congress to “mandate gradually tightening emission limits” that would start “two or three years from now.” This GRADUAL implementation would give businesses a reasonable amount of time “to invest in new equipment and facilities…” This in turn, would lessen the economic impact on the consumer’s pocketbook, since they/we are the one’s who will ultimately foot the bill for cleaning up the environmental messes the businesses make.Let’s get started!</melody>