- But Obama wants action on climate change, and the only way to wean our dependence off fossil fuels is to put a price on carbon.
I actually don't think this is true, at least in the broad sense. Pricing carbon might be a good (or best) way to reduce carbon emissions, but it isn't the only thing that can achieve that goal. We could subsidize the hell out of other means of energy production. We can remove all kinds of car-dependent sprawl encouraging policies. We could set up a massive program to have people go door to door and, for free, improve insulation in existing buildings. Hell, just painting every roof in Philadelphia silver/white would do a lot.