The personal website of Paul A. Hawkins.
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Politics • EssaysOn Prosperity and the Carbon TaxHere is a simple formula for prosperity: Find out what you do that makes money and do the heck out of it. If it relies upon a renewable resource, do not deplete that resource – ie, if you fish, do it aggressively but not fish so much that the fish disappear; if you farm do it aggressively farm no not deplete your topsoil. Nonetheless, focus on your strengths and execute them fully.The exception to this is to not keep doing what you have been doing if there is no longer a demand for it. Example: do not keep building buggies in the age of the automobile. In this case, move on to what there is a demand for. This analogy helps us address Obama’s carbon tax. It purposefully weakens something we are good at, for which there is a strong demand, that makes money, and which we can “do the heck out of” to strengthen our economy. One wonders: in tough economic times, why impose putative taxes that will make a product more expense and thus lower demand and make its manufacture unprofitable, put employees out of work, and cripple an industry? By taxing carbon, Obama is doing the equivalent of outlawing cars to make us switch to buggies. The problem with his plan is A) there is no demand for buggies, B) we do not know how to make buggies well, C) the switch imposes an exorbitant cost on every aspect of our lives for little enrichment, and D) the exorbitant cost that citizens pay will be poured into the government, not to the buggy makers. Hence it will make us even more beholden to government, make the economy weaker by restricting an industry that is profitable and that we know how to do well. He is killing a goose that lays golden eggs (revenue, jobs) in order to reward feel better about being “green,” lower the standard of living so that we are like Europe and expect favors to come from government not business and work. In order to strengthen the economy he needs to do the opposite: deregulate this industry we are good at. Make it easier to drill and refine. Think of the thousands of jobs that would be created if EPA restrictions that make it prohibitive to build refineries were lifted. Easing restrictions would not cost a single “bailout” dollar and yet would put people to work and make the USA more energy independent, and hence more nationally secure. We would have a stronger economy and be less beholden to dictators who do not have our best interests in mind or, worse, who actively desire to weaken us. |
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