by John T. Landry
Energy is such a politicized topic in the U.S. that it’s no surprise when rhetoric obscures reality”ridiculous arguments for ethanol subsidies being only the most egregious example. Bryce, an energy journalist, argues persuasively that ending oil imports would actually reduce U.S. economic security while having little effect on terrorists (who rely mainly on organized crime for funding) and petrodictators (who have survived low oil prices before).
Meanwhile, the use of alternative fuels is years, if not decades, from a scale large enough to matter. As for carbon taxes, Bryce rightly shows that these would be a major burden on exporting companies unless countries everywhere agreed to similar taxes.
Original text available here: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article….
