Why Putin Doesn’t Respect Us
I’d also raise our gasoline tax, put in place a carbon tax and a national renewable energy portfolio standard — all of which would also help lower the global oil price (and make us stronger, with cleaner air, less oil dependence and more innovation).
You want to frighten Putin? Just announce those steps. But you know the story, the tough guys in Washington who want to take on Putin would rather ask 1 percent of Americans — the military and their families — to make the ultimate sacrifice than have all of us make a small sacrifice in the form of tiny energy price increases. Those tough guys who thump their chests in Congress but run for the hills if you ask them to vote for a 10-cent increase in the gasoline tax that would actually boost our leverage, they’ll never rise to this challenge. We’ll do anything to expose Putin’s weakness; anything that isn’t hard. And you wonder why Putin holds us in contempt?
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In a sea of bizarre, delusional warmist ranting, that may well be the strangest commentary yet. (It’s even worse than Obama and Kerry whining that Putin “isn’t playing fair”.) If I mentioned the weeds growing in my yard, Friedman would tell me that a carbon tax would stop them. My niece’s worthless degree in gender studies? Spending a trillion or so on renewable energy would make it valuable. And domestic violence could be cured by a “comprehensive energy plan” – so long as comprehensive means getting rid of most of our sources of energy. The fact that this man is getting space in a newspaper is proof positive that we have truly gone through the looking glass.
I could point out the obvious – that Thomas Friedman is the guy that the other boys used to beat the crap out of at recess… but I won’t.
Freidman is a certifiable nut. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that a carbon tax will only hurt the economy and mean absolutely nothing to the climate. Look at what happened to Australia.