Roald Marth

Thomas Friedman: Be brave U.S. -- tax gasoline more

Posted Sep 22nd 2009 6:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro

Filed under: Politics, Oil

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New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Columnist Thomas Friedman returned to the subject of the United States' inordinate use of oil, and the problems it creates.

Friedman asks: are we really that tough a people? If we were, we'd tax gasoline much more, build many more nuclear power plants (like France), and store waste deep in Yucca Mountain, which is totally safe -- all with the goal of propelling, basically, a paradigm shift in the nation's energy policy -- one that would feature dramatically less oil consumption.

Doing the above will also seize the high ground internationally, in Friedman's interpretation: currently, with oil dominant, Russia and Venezuela and other nations in the Middle East have the high ground. Friedman said if he had the money from an additional $1 per gallon tax on gasoline (about $140 billion in revenue per year), he'd use 45% of it to pay down the budget deficit, 45% to pay for new health care, and 10% to cushion the burden the tax would put place on the poor and those who need to drive long distances.

In the process, the deficit would drop substantially, the renewable energy industry would be stimulated, the dollar would strength, the environment would be cleaner, and U.S. corporations would be stronger international competitors, as a result of decreased health care costs, among other benefits, Friedman said.

Energy Analysis: Friedman succinctly described the benefits of a mandated shift away from oil and gasoline use. One critique: Yucca Mountain is safe, but a nuclear fuel reprocessing center like France's COGEMA La Hague site represents a better option. In any event, don't look for a gasoline tax increase anytime soon: it's a non-starter in the U.S. Congress.

South Korea has the fastest Broadband in the World, graduates math students at #2 in the world, and produces nearly 50% of it's electricity for it's 50 million people from Nuclear....think globally!!!!