"Climate bubble...poses enormous risks": Hank Paulson warns, will GOP listen?
Is climate change the next financial crisis? Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson argues in a NYT editorial there will be serious consequences -- both economically and environmentally -- if U.S. lawmakers continue to underestimate the "climate bubble." He writes:
"For too many years, we failed to rein in the excesses building up in the nation’s financial markets. When the credit bubble burst in 2008, the damage was devastating. Millions suffered. Many still do. We’re making the same mistake today with climate change. We’re staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy. The warning signs are clear and growing more urgent as the risks go unchecked."
The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task and Lauren Lyster note that Paulson, a Republican, will have a hard time convincing his party that the risks climate change presents are real. Paulson also believes that taxing carbon emissions is the most effective solution for addressing climate change and such a tax will actually reduce the size of "big government."
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Paulson wants a national policy that "uses market forces to provide incentives for the technological advances required to address climate change."
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Nobel-prize winning economist and NYT columnist Paul Krugman rejects Paulson's financial crisis comparison. Krugman writes that GOP leaders are opposed to "any kind of a tax increase" and any climate change solution will likely be championed by one side.
Do you agree with Paulson's view? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
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