In Thrall of the Yo-Yo

It is possible that oil prices are coming down soon. This does not surprise me. The markets function marvelously to get us more of what we want. And we seem to want oil. It does, however, distress me. People who are trying to develop and promote alternative technologies are being jerked around by this jolly jumper price game.

Since the price is going inevitably up in the long run, and since as rational people we don't really want to depend on oil, the government should take measures to stabilize prices. Don't you think?

Personally, I'm willing to go even further and say that the government should take steps to raise prices. For the sake of the environment, I don't really care too much how they do it. A carbon tax seems to me to be the most reasonable approach, but I consider the climate problem serious enough that I would be delighted if we decided to blockade the Straits of Hormuz. Better yet, we should find some way to annoy the Iranians to such a degree that they cut off our oil in retaliation. That way they would have less money to make trouble with.

High oil prices right now are also essential to keep India and China from committing themselves to a carbon future.

6/29/2006 8:38 PM