Why is there such controversy over energy choices when we’ve got this wonderful system called capitalism? Capitalism performs a vital service to humanity. It takes a miasma of human emotions and the reality before us and converts it into dollars, whereupon otherwise intractable problems that we only bicker about and get nowhere become more manageable.
Capitalism is wonderful. But remember, capitalism is only as good as its accountants are honest. When capitalism makes a mess, it's almost always because costs get swept under the rug.
The fact that we today, right now, are saddling our children with the ruinous costs of our greenhouse gas emissions is not capitalism, but crony capitalism designed to keep greenhouse gas emissions costs off the books.
There is a growing consensus among conservatives and progressives that we need a way to price carbon emissions into the public reservoir, our atmosphere. That’s why I support House Bill 304, which Rep. Joel K. Briscoe has introduced into our Utah Legislature.
Charles Ashurst, Logan