The NC Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change has stumbled on an exciting new idea. When people are too stupid to buy what government knows is good for them, we can get the Chinese, via the federal deficit, to subsidize it. That way, government gets to throw its weight around in deciding what industries it will sanction. The price of scarcities thus created in the absence of governmental blessings will drive carbon footprints out of the market. People will be forced to save on their energy bills, green entrepreneurs can charge a premium, and Utopia will arrive in time to stave off global warming, just as the political scientific consensus knew it would. If the Chinese are amenable to subsidizing wages for green collar workers, the savings on utility bills will increase discretional incomes, and the entire economy will enjoy trickle-down benefits.

The time is now for government to buck Big Oil and make everybody bicycle-power their computers and cook their tofu with low-scorch magnifying glasses. Pay no attention to the displaced utility workers. They never complain about paying taxes to subsidize the competition. Government has a 100% track record of synergizing vibrant energy powered by hopes, wishes, and dreams.

Roy Cordato of the John Locke Foundation disagrees. He says the commission ignored its mandate to assimilate scientific and economic data, and instead reacted to the spin of alarmist organizations, pulling numbers out of a hat, some easily off by 900%.