Comments on: Obama’s Plan: ‘It Begins With Energy.’ http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/02/24/obama-energy-leadership/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:42:01 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Ryan Radia http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/02/24/obama-energy-leadership/comment-page-1/#comment-115857 Ryan Radia Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:27:44 +0000 http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/02/24/obama-energy-leadership/#comment-115857 Obama's energy agenda doesn't quite add up. First, he says we need energy-efficient vehicles, but then he says they ought to be built here in America. What's wrong with foreign hybrids? If our goal is energy efficiency, shouldn't we strive to achieve it at the least possible cost even if that means buying cars manufactured abroad? Trade isn't a zero-sum game--surely Obama must know this. And why is Obama still calling for a "market-based cap" on carbon emissions? Economists keep telling us that a simple carbon tax is far superior because it creates fewer opportunities for gaming the system. Every firm will line up for an exemption or seek discounted carbon permits if a cap-and-trade scheme is implemented, and politicians seem to have an awfully hard time resisting favorite allies. The auto industry has made bade decisions, as Obama points out, but because it indirectly supports millions of jobs it cannot be allowed to fail. Isn't creative destruction--and the accompanying pain--part of economic progress? Jobs are lost anytime a firm goes bankrupt, yet Obama surely doesn't intend to have government step in and prop up every struggling firm, does he? Should America forever seek to manufacture every good that was invented here? Surely we'd rather be inventing things than building them, right? Obama’s energy agenda doesn’t quite add up. First, he says we need energy-efficient vehicles, but then he says they ought to be built here in America. What’s wrong with foreign hybrids? If our goal is energy efficiency, shouldn’t we strive to achieve it at the least possible cost even if that means buying cars manufactured abroad? Trade isn’t a zero-sum game–surely Obama must know this.

And why is Obama still calling for a “market-based cap” on carbon emissions? Economists keep telling us that a simple carbon tax is far superior because it creates fewer opportunities for gaming the system. Every firm will line up for an exemption or seek discounted carbon permits if a cap-and-trade scheme is implemented, and politicians seem to have an awfully hard time resisting favorite allies.

The auto industry has made bade decisions, as Obama points out, but because it indirectly supports millions of jobs it cannot be allowed to fail. Isn’t creative destruction–and the accompanying pain–part of economic progress? Jobs are lost anytime a firm goes bankrupt, yet Obama surely doesn’t intend to have government step in and prop up every struggling firm, does he? Should America forever seek to manufacture every good that was invented here? Surely we’d rather be inventing things than building them, right?

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