The Money Quote

It seems absurd to assume that anyone who would read this blog wouldn't read the NYTimes Op/Ed Page. So, I mean no condescension when I recommend Thomas Friedman's column today, about the internal liberal critique of Saudi society.

The money quote would be his closing graf, formulated as a response to those who scoff at the call for energy-independence:

Oh, that is so naïve, says the oil crowd. Well, what would you call a Bush energy policy that keeps America dependent on a medieval monarchy with a king who has lost most of his faculties, where there is virtually no transparency about what's happening, where corruption is rampant, where we have asked all Americans to leave and where the education system is so narrow that its own people are decrying it as a factory for extremism? Now that's what I'd call naïve. I'd also call it reckless and dangerous.

In light of Krauthammer's recent proposal to raise the gas tax, there's reason to hope we're starting to hit some consensus points on how to face America's current threats...

The idea is for the government - through a tax - to establish a new floor for gasoline, say $3 a gallon. (If the world price were to rise above $3, the tax would be zero.) What we need is anything that will act as a brake on consumption. Since America consumes 45% of the world's gasoline, a significant reduction here would bring down the world price.

But the key is to keep the tax. Indeed, let it increase to capture all of a price reduction. Consumers still pay $3, but the Saudis keep getting lower and lower world prices. The U.S. economy keeps the rest in the form of taxes - which should immediately be cycled back to consumers by a corresponding cut in, say, payroll or income taxes.

Here's hoping...