The 2012 NYT OpEd claimed a carbon tax with higher gas prices would result in not only “climate stability” but it would also prevent an “end [to] life as we know it.” … If Frank’s claims from 2012 were correct, the Earth’s climate should be in a perfect state of “stability” now given the massive increase in gas prices since President Joe Biden became president in 2021, a more than doubling of prices at the pump. If Frank’s claims from the New York Times were correct, President Biden has officially solved “climate change” with his higher gas prices.
But in 1976, the New York Times claimed a warmer climate produced climate stability. See:Flashback 1976: NYT: ‘Cool periods produce greater climate instability. Climatic events are then more extreme’
By: Marc Morano – Climate DepotMay 27, 2022 1:04 PM with 0 comments
A 2012 New York Times OpEd by Cornell University economist Robert H. Frank 2012 NY Times claimed a carbon tax of $300 a ton that increased gas prices by several dollars per gallon would “result in climate stability.” Frank, writing in the New York Times on August 25, 2012, claimed we could tax our way to the climate we desire.
The 2012 NYT OpEd claimed a carbon tax with higher gas prices would result in not only “climate stability” but it would also prevent an “end [to] life as we know it.”
Economist Frank explained in the NYT: “Early studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that a carbon tax of up to $80 per metric ton of emissions — a tax that might raise gasoline prices by 70 cents a gallon— would eventually result in climate stability. But because recent estimates about global warming have become more pessimistic, stabilization may require a much higher tax. How hard would it be to live with a tax of, say, $300 a ton?”
If Frank’s claims from 2012 were correct, the Earth’s climate should be in a perfect state of “stability” now given the massive increase in gas prices since President Joe Biden became president in 2021, a more than doubling of prices at the pump. If Frank’s claims from the New York Times were correct, President Biden has officially solved “climate change” with his higher gas prices.
Chronology of Biden’s Gasoline Price Hike – Up, up, up ‘from Biden’s first day in office’– From December 2020 through March 2022, U.S. monthly average unleaded regular gasoline prices doubled.
Biden’s America: Gas Prices Hit Record High Again, Rising 11 Cents Last Week
Biden praises high gas prices as part of ‘incredible transition’ away from fossil fuels
But in 1976, the New York Times claimed a warmer climate produced climate stability. See:
The magic of carbon taxes! Economist Herman E. Daly also claimed carbon taxes will bring “climate stability.” “And the most important public good served by the carbon tax would be climate stability, brought about by the consequent reduction in use of carbon fuels and the incentive to invent less carbon-intensive energy sources.” (Source) – Herman E. Daly, professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, author of Ecological Economics, Steady-State Economics, Valuing The Earth: Climate Change: From ‘Know How’ to ‘Do Now’, Grist, Aug. 14, 2007.
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Flashback 2012 Analysis of NYT OPED: Why a Carbon Tax Is Still a Bad Idea – By Kenneth P. Green
Early studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that a carbon tax of up to $80 per metric ton of emissions — a tax that might raise gasoline prices by 70 cents a gallon — would eventually result in climate stability. But because recent estimates about global warming have become more pessimistic, stabilization may require a much higher tax. How hard would it be to live with a tax of, say, $300 a ton?
If such a tax were phased in, the prices of goods would rise gradually in proportion to the amount of carbon dioxide their production or use entailed. The price of gasoline, for example, would slowly rise by somewhat less than $3 a gallon. Motorists in many countries already pay that much more than Americans do, and they seem to have adapted by driving substantially more efficient vehicles.
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A carbon tax would also serve two other goals. First, it would help balance future budgets. Tens of millions of Americans are set to retire in the next decades, and, as a result, many budget experts agree that federal budgets simply can’t be balanced with spending cuts alone. We’ll also need substantial additional revenue, most of which could be generated by a carbon tax.
Prof. Frank’s columns in the NY Times Sunday business section:
Reducing CO2 emissions would actually be surprisingly easy. The most effective remedy would be a carbon tax, which would raise the after-tax price of goods in rough proportion to the size of their carbon footprint. Gasoline would become more expensive, piano lessons would not. … [W]e could insulate ourselves from catastrophic [climate] risk at relatively modest cost by enacting a steep carbon tax. Early studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that a carbon tax of up to $80 per metric ton of emissions — a tax that might raise gasoline prices by 70 cents a gallon— would eventually result in climate stability. But because recent estimates about global warming have become more pessimistic, stabilization may require a much higher tax. How hard would it be to live with a tax of, say, $300 a ton? … Carbon Tax Silence, Overtaken by Events, Aug. 25, 2012)
via Watts Up With That?
May 27, 2022
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