You know you?re about to read a problematic article when the headline starts with the words ?Uncle Sam Needs to Solve?.?
The latest dead-tree version of TIME includes an article from Jeffrey D. Sachs titled ?We Need a Power Surge.? Apparently, the magazine?s online editors preferred a headline offering a more direct plea for government interference: ?Uncle Sam Needs to Solve the Energy Crisis.?
Both versions start with this sentence:
The key to heading off devastating climate change ? and to sidestepping out-of-sight oil prices along the way ? is to improve technology.
I won?t waste blog space here making the case against the prospect of ?devastating? climate change. For argument?s sake, I?ll take that premise as a given.
If one accepts Sachs? premise, then the conclusion in favor of improved technology makes sense. What doesn?t make sense is Sachs? decision to ignore an obvious corollary: government policies that would reduce the wealth necessary to fund improvements in technology are counterproductive. This is especially true if the government policies would have no measurable impact on the climate.
