Cap-and-trade handling one more sign of feeble state management

Re “California to extend expiring cap, trade program” (Sept. 14): Cap-and-trade is a large source of tax revenue for the state of California. The concept of capturing some of the costs of pollution was not always the tax scheme into which it has evolved.

When I was earning an MBA in the late 1970s, the economics professors at Duquesne University were notably conservative. They accepted that polluters should pay, even as that was still being nationally debated. But they advocated for a cap-and-trade auction system run like Chicago commodities or New York stock exchanges, not a government tax source. The efficiency and effectiveness of such commercially operated markets dwarfed any arguments favoring the often arbitrary and capricious government system.

As the article points out, California’s mismanagement is contributing inordinately to the highest utility and gasoline prices in the country. This politicization of what should be an economic solution again highlights California’s feeble legislative ability.

— Raymond Roth, Oceanside