Re: What is your counsel?

Description: Judge Posner would like to see heavier carbon taxes and that Americans in general are under-taxed.

Transcript: Well I don’t . . . I don’t have the knowledge to give a responsible answer. But since . . . but I would like to see . . . I’d like to see . . . I’d like actually to see very heavy carbon taxes. And I’d also like to see larger government expenditures devoted to a range of defensive measures against catastrophe. But I think actually it’s kind of hearsay, but I think the . . . I think the American people are under taxed. You know we have very low tax rates relative to most countries, and I think too low. I think . . . I think only government can deal with these catastrophic risks – not that the government has to do any of the research or anything; but the resources required, I think, for effective protection against them . . . require a large-scale government spending. So I think we’ve been too . . . I think we’ve skimped on government expenditures too. It’s partly a diversion. It’s the diversion of Iraq which has been so extraordinarily expensive. But if we were ever able to extricate ourselves from Iraq, which costs about $100 billion a year, I’d certainly want that $100 billion to be devoted to other national protection and not given back to the taxpayer.

Recorded on: 11/21/07