Word: gas
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...biggest factors in making paychecks seem smaller in recent years has been the sharp increase in energy prices. There's very little a President can do to change this in the short term; the summer gas-tax holiday proposed by McCain and Clinton would put just a few dollars in the pockets of all but the biggest gas hogs. Where Presidents (and Congress) can have a big impact is in the long-term trajectory of energy prices and their effect on the economy. Elected officials can do this by steering Americans away from oil and toward other energy sources...
...thing on energy difficult is that it would almost inevitably involve raising costs now, with higher taxes on oil, increased subsidies for other energy sources or higher energy-efficiency standards for vehicles and homes - or all three. Economists tend to prefer the first of these approaches because taxes on gas, oil or fossil fuels in general tamp demand and allow the market - rather than members of Congress - to sift out the best alternatives...
...Obama are all in favor of a carbon-cap-and-trade regimen, which would raise the price of fossil fuels just as surely as a direct tax would. Almost in spite of ourselves, we may end up with a semi-rational long-term energy policy. It won't make gas cheaper anytime soon - or perhaps ever - but in the long run, it could strengthen the country's economic prospects...
...trade system, which would set a declining limit on global warming pollution, then let companies sell their excess pollution permits for a profit. "For all of the last century," he said, "the profit motive basically led in one direction - toward machines, methods and industries that used oil and gas." He praised the good that came from that growth but pointed out that there were "costs we weren?t counting. And these terrible costs have added up." Now, he said, a cap-and-trade system would harness the profit motive to reverse that trend and usher in a cleaner, more vibrant...
Heady stuff. Too bad the details of McCain's policy don't quite match his soaring vision. His plan is designed to be the climate policy that business can live with - to be pragmatic and "doable," as he says - so his targets for greenhouse gas reduction fall short of Clinton's, Obama's and those in the leading Senate climate bill, sponsored by Independent Joe Lieberman and Republican John Warner. (McCain would seek to reduce carbon emissions to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 66 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.) All of the proposals amount to less...