A solution to the energy crisis?

Fair Price Energy has some ideas. 2

A new website entitled Fair Price Energy includes some interesting proposals for moving forward with sensible energy policy in America. While the author admittedly offers no entirely new ideas to the discussion, the combination of policies and the clear presentation merit a look.

Although economists for decades have proposed a host of policies that would greatly improve the energy situation (economists were among the first to call for gas taxes decades ago), the key issue is political viability; this is where the ideas at Fair Price Energy are somewhat lacking. Both the suggested tax on energy imports and a lack of compensation mechanism for industries hurt by the proposal seem to make it more than a long-shot in the current political landscape. But it is still worth a look, especially since it has a nice system for redistributing the tax revenue from higher energy prices in a very progressive manner, which would ease the concerns among many environmentalists about the potential regressive effects of higher energy costs.

Jason Scorse, PhD
Associate Professor
Chair of the International Environmental Policy Program
Monterey Institute of International Studies

Institute Webpage: http://www.miis.edu/academics/faculty/node/936

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  1. Biodiversivist's avatar

    Biodiversivist Posted 6:39 am
    01 Sep 2006

    I like it.Promote it as a plan to tax energy industries and give the revenues to citizen tax payers. Sounds like a politcally viable option to me. Lobbyists would be pitted against voters. The politicians would go for the votes.

    In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com
  2. amazingdrx Posted 6:51 pm
    01 Sep 2006

    Only one wayThe only politically viable way to pit consaumers against lobbyists is a grass roots move to eliminate corporate welfare to big fossil and nuxclear monopolists.  then use part of the savings to provide tax incentives for consumers to buy renewable energy and renewable energy producing and consuming devices, like solar panels, wind systems, and electric plugin vehicles.
    Raising taxes is a sure loser in US politics.  That is the issue that corporatism has used to take over the US government.  Supposedly lowering taxes, the bushwacker  in chief refers to it constantly.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

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