Here's my point: Whenever you transition to a new technology or a
new way of thinking about structuring our economy, the old is going
to resist the new. The key is to make the new profitable,
job-generating and appealing enough that more and more people
embrace the new and let go of the old. That's where government can
play a role. If we institute a cap-and-trade system for carbon
emissions, that's going to generate billions of dollars. Now,
that's also going to mean higher electricity prices for consumers,
so a huge chunk of that has to go back to consumers in the form of
rebates, so they don't feel the pinch as badly. That's point number
one.
Point number two is we'll put $15 billion a year into
alternative energy. We want to give encouragement to existing
utilities, existing energy companies, to invest in solar and wind
and biodiesel.
