Artful Dodger:

Of course, oil companies make no money at all when we use a lot of energy from fossil fuels. Then car exhaust fumes are perfectly harmless. As are fumes coming out of factories.

The reality is that the problem is not the carbon footprint, or carbon emissions. The problem is that we consume without measure, and we waste without measure. Many people try to recycle, use less, drive less, etc. But it is not enough because profits that drive consumes capitalism drive mass production, and that drives pollution in the form of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, ozone-destroying substances, etc.

The carbon tax is a very inefficient way to regulate the problem. What it is saying is that the consumer should pay more for products according to how much carbon dioxide is produced by those products and their manufacturing process.

Instead they should give tax credits to companies that invest in the reduction of pollution. If the capital gains tax runs at a certain percentage, that percentage should be much lower for companies that can prove that they have reduced the pollution produced during manufaturing, use and disposal of a product. In that way more of the capital would remain in the hands of companied that pollute less as opposed to those that pollute more.

There should be no "carbon credit trading" of any kind, because that simply encourages companies that pollute a lot to buy credits from those that pollute less. Companies that pollute more can simply buy their way out of the problem, rather than have an incentive to improve the manufacturing and design of their products.

Well, capitalism is all about profit and the legislators that are trying to address the problems of pollution have only one objective in mind: to make sure that the capitalists keep getting rich, whether by reducing pollution, or keeping it as it is.

> And what's wrong with carbon anyway? Nothing.

Would you breathe the exhaust fumes from a car? Would you move your family next to a big factory with a huge smoke stack bathing your house in carbon dioxide? And when carbon is released into the atmosphere, where does it go? Our atmosphere is a relatively closed system and gases released there stay there for a long time. I think that presuming that the problem is global warming is not quite accurate. The problem is one of generalized pollution and the effects it has on human health and the plants and animals. It is foolish to think that carbon dioxide is "harmless". If it were, people would have no problem breathing the exahust fumes coming out of their cars.