Climate

Over on CapitalGainsandGames.com today, Andrew Samwick makes the case for increasing the gas tax -- and pairing that hike "with a reduction in the payroll tax rate that fully offsets the revenue increase." As he puts it:

At a very basic level, you get less of what you tax and more of what you don't. Looking at our long-term energy needs, every little bit of energy conservation helps. Looking particularly at our short-term macroeconomic needs, we would like to increase the returns [on] work. Both the payroll tax and the gas tax are thought to be regressive, so on balance, we are not doing much.

Toyota's announcement that they're testing plug-in hybrid cars (see NYT, Jalopnik for details) is great -- if for no other reason than it holds GM's feet to the fire on the Volt project.

New America's Climate Policy Program just rolled out an online version of its "Building Blocks" for state and regional governments that have tired of waiting for national-level action and want to start curbing greenhouse gases themselves. It's interesting stuff, and the bottom-up approach is more practical and market-friendly than it sounds.