"What we've seen this summer, Tom, is that price (increase) works. The consumers reacted to that price (increase) signal, they've gone out and been searching for different cars. In Washington, D.C., where I live, 100,000 more commuters have been using the subway. The price signal works. But what industry needs, Tom, is it needs a long-term price signal, that the big companies need to know if they go all in, Texas Hold 'em, on clean power, that the price isn't going to collapse as it's doing now, go back to 70, and all those investments don't work. Again, something Jeff Immelt said to me from GE, he said, "Look, Tom, I'm not going to make a $40 billion, multiyear bet on a 15-minute price signal." That's why having a price signal, a carbon tax that companies can bet on is hugely important."So Friedman is saying that to combat the law of supply and demand, the government needs to artifically keep the price of petroleum-base fuel high, no matter what the natural market value dictates. When supplies of crude do increase, the federal government he would have the government impose a carbon tax to keep crude prices from falling. He would then give this tax money to the private companies with the stipulation that this new, artificial extra tax burden on us all will be used by big companies to "go all in" to develop clean power.
Yeah, that's brilliant. That'll fly....not.
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