The only way to have a meaningful impact on our "addiction to oil" is to tax it, according to this op-ed by a Kennedy School of Government program director.
"We have been here before, and the responses from elected officials have been quite predictable: find scapegoats (usually the oil companies), demand subsidies for the energy technology of the month, and point out that the country lacks a coherent national energy policy.
Give it a few years, however, and the sense of urgency will fall in tandem with the price of oil and we'll go back to business as usual. Presidents from Richard Nixon to Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush have all made similar pledges and yet progress in many of these areas over the past 30 years has been paltry at best. Why?"
"The United States has avoided addressing its 'addiction to oil' for 30 years. To continue to do so may be flirting with severe political and economic consequences. We need to get serious about the problem. This means creating a marketplace that is receptive to alternatives to our present oil addiction."
Read the full story: Tame oil's wild price ride with a tax
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