Tom Friedman is at it again. Whenever a reporter asks him how to fix the Middle East, Friedman's response is increasingly the same - increase taxes! On this morning's Today show NBC's Meredith Vieira brought on the New York Times columnist to discuss the Iraq debate on Capitol Hill. Setting up Friedman with his own premise, Viera asked: "Well you've said, 'We need to reshape the game board.' What do you mean by that?" Friedman then gave a long-winded response that eventually revealed his solution: "Oil tax." Below is the conversation as it occurred in the 7am half hour of the February 6 Today show:
Meredith Vieira: "Well you've said, 'We need to reshape the game board. What do you mean by that?'"
Thomas Friedman: "Well I would argue, you know with all humility, also this is a very confusing situation but it seems to me we need to change the dynamic fundamentally by setting a date to leave and setting a new oil price to live by. What I mean by that is we need to force choices on everybody there. Right now everyone's having their cake and eating it too at our expense. People have militias and they negotiate with us. The Sunnis have an insurgency and they negotiate with us. The Arabs support the Sunni insurgency and they negotiate with us. We need to create a situation, basically, where everyone has to make a choice. If they make the right choice we will continue to help them, if they make the wrong choice we will be out of there. By setting an oil price, and I'm talking about a oil tax that makes us energy independent we create an environment where they, if they make the right choice we win and if they make the wrong choice we are out of Iraq, we are not hostage to their madness and we have a stronger country."
Vieira: "Tom let me go back to that because I want to make sure that I understand. You think that we should set a price floor of $45 per barrel of oil. What does that mean and why would that have a great impact?"
Friedman: "We need to drive conservation in this country at a whole new level and stimulate alternatives so we will be independent of the madness of that part of the world if they make the wrong choices and if they make the right choices we will be nothing but a stronger country for having more alternative energy and basically more independence in our energy choices."
Vieira: "So at this point do you believe there's any leverage the U.S. has to bring these sectarian parties together in Iraq? The Sunnis, the Shia and the Kurds?"
Friedman: "No that, that, that's the problem is that to negotiate in the Middle East, Meredith, you need leverage, alright? This is a region where to negotiate without leverages is like playing baseball without a bat. No one takes you seriously. And the only way we get leverage is if we tell everybody, we are gone by December 1st. All our people are gonna be home for Christmas or on the border of Iraq for Christmas, now you have to make a choice. Do you want to go on with your madness? Well if you do you're gonna have to pay retail for your madness, not wholesale. We're not gonna hold up the floor here any more. If you make the right choices we'll be there to help you but we've got to bring this thing to a head. It will drift forever. You know the old saying Meredith, that if you're in a poker game and you don't know who the sucker is, it's probably you? That's what I'm beginning to feel about Iraq right now."
Vieira: "On that note, Tom Friedman, once again thanks very much."
—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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these people, friedman, rich,
February 6, 2007 - 11:44 ET by buddycthese people, friedman, rich, krugman are so out of touch with reality. is ny really that nutty? how on earth does that paper have any readers?
well his pals control congress. let them propose an oil tax now.
my solution is a "media" tax. we know that the media, hollywood, television, music, entertainment mag create and contribute to many of our social ills from anaorexia, smoking, teen pregnancies, drugs, crime, violence to child molestation and the like. let us impose a tax on the sale of their products.
i think a 100% tax on ticket/subscription/etc prices or a nice 25% gross receipts tax would be a good and fair beginning to try to cover society's costs of the damage they do.
Friedman
February 6, 2007 - 11:45 ET by PawpawNJust had posted this on OPEN THREAD:
What credentials does one have to have in order to be a so-called expert on TERROR, so-called expert on Military, so-called expert on Ecomony, so-called expert on GLOBAL WARMING, & the list goes on & on. Saw the guy from Neswee(a)k on Today giving info on what we need to do to in Iraq, etc. Other than working in media has he ever taken any classes on such, served in military, been privy to classified/Top Secret info(maybe he knows people from NY Times), etc. Why do these people get to spout their "HOW TO RUN THE USA" babble & people take it as YEP they must be correct! I just don't get it, I must be getting too old to understand. & has anyone ever checked to see if these men caught by DATELINE are really caught as real predators or are they just actors themselves, cause they seem very friendly to the camera. Is it just me?
Negotiating?How about this: T
February 6, 2007 - 11:52 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveNegotiating?
How about this: To all the Illegal Militias and Insurgents: Disarm or Die!
We haven't much use for negotiations with all these groups. Friedman is talking non-sense. What makes him think we can make deals with these groups and they will keep their ends of the deals? Negotiations only give a sense of legitimacy to these nefarious groups.
We need to unfetter our military forces and get the politicians out of the war. Allow our military commanders to do their job how according to the information they have on hand, and hold them accountable for their decisions.
Money, tax revenues, negotiations will not win this war. Genuine military force will win this war...our military has the stomach for it, but the politicians don't. The politicians neew to quit worrying about the next election and allow us to get the job done.
/endRant
Gun Safety Tip #8: No matter how responsible he seems, never give your gun to a monkey. (www.imao.us)
Is he saying we should pay oi
February 6, 2007 - 11:56 ET by ucIs he saying we should pay oil companies and not get oil in return as way maybe to make Al Gore's priorities not a slam to their economy? What is "tax and spend" Al Gore getting us into?
Freidman needs to be truly exposed.
February 6, 2007 - 11:58 ET by acaiguanaFreidman needs to be truly exposed.
"If they make the right choice we will continue to help them, if they make the wrong choice we will be out of there"
And to hell with the consequences. After all I'm not a Zionist. Israel and the entire population of Iraq can go to hell. I never cared about them when Saddam was in power and I don't care about them now. I am the most brilliant man in the room. <So to speak>
Number Two:
Price controls, yes we need price controls to teach those greedy oil dependent Americans that Middle Eastern Oil is their problem. After all it is their fault that we are dependent on Middle Eastern Oil. We need to make the American People change their energy use habits because we are smarter than the American People.
And to hell with the consequences of not allowing oil exploration in the US and not allowing any refineries to be built and not allowing real alternative power like nuclear power plants to be built. By God, we need to straighten out these crazy Americans who have basked too long in continuing raising of their standards of living; too long in their indulgence in a vibrant economy; too long in their indifference to what I am saying.
So there.
And I'm right.
And you are stupid by the way.
Sincerely,
Thomas Friedman, <G*d>
...
Hillary Clinton says: "I want to take those profits."
If they make the right choice
February 6, 2007 - 12:09 ET by Conservative in the ArtsIf they make the right choice we will continue to help them, if they make the wrong choice we will be out of there
and who's to say what is the right choice? After all, with libs, it's all relative.
besides, doesn't this sound like "either you're with us, or the terrorists?" question that Bush got so lambasted on? What was Friedman's responce to Bush saying that? Isn't Freidman being a little "cowboy-ish" and going it "uni-lateral"
Friedman's an ass...and he sh
February 6, 2007 - 12:24 ET by The Real TonyFriedman's an ass...and he shows how much of one he is constantly.
Isn't it amazing how liberals can act with this "my way or the highway" mentality but get outraged if anyone else does??
Fight Terrorism at home - defeat a liberal!
Color me confused...
February 6, 2007 - 12:27 ET by jmtCould some one please explain to me the logic that says:
Raise taxes on oil/gasoline/transportation = reduced dependency on foreign oilHillary says she wants to take profits to fund some government research for alternate fuels. Doing that disincentivizes industry from investing profits in research as all remaining profits will have to go to the shareholders, thus reducing the monies supposedly going into this program. Result, an unfunded program that will need to get its $$ from general revenue. Plus, rather than actually doing anything, such a program would fund grants (and add $$ to the research grant engine) rather than put anything into practice since Universities don't create. Of course, this does send money toward those who support Hillary (the tenured set).
If the oil tax is to be a sin tax, doesn't that work well for tobacco and alcohol? Well, it does increase the general revenue so you can fund more social programs...
Finally, if energy independence is the goal, why not remove governmental barriers to oil exploration and refineries in US territories? The more (cheaply) we can get oil here, the more downward pressure you get on the oil market - thus reducing the revenue stream for those we don't want to support. (Note: since oil is fungible, we can't use US oil and not Saudi oil, we can only drive down the price).
Ah, just saying one thing to cover what is really wanted: more government funds to buy votes.
jmt
http://www.jmichaelt.org
Seems to me, everytime I have
February 6, 2007 - 12:45 ET by bassndudeSeems to me, everytime I have seen Friedman on TV, reguardless of which program it is or what it is about, he always seems to worm in that "raise taxes" mantra he spouts.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
bass...It's funny how the eli
February 6, 2007 - 13:53 ET by bigtimerbass...
It's funny how the elitist simpletons love to tell us what to do all the time, as if they and only they have all the answers, Friedman is a perfect example of the very reason we do not have oil-independence in our own country, be it land or sea, let alone more refineries built...they are going to be the downfall of us all, and they will be the first to point fingers at anyone but themselves when and if that happens.
Friedman has always gone whichever the left wind polls blows...another media expert...another just oh so darlin' of a vast waste of an empty-suit.
Drill Often...Drill Everywhere!
"And the only way we get
February 6, 2007 - 12:56 ET by Al Czervik"And the only way we get leverage is if we tell everybody, we are gone by December 1st."
Wow. Really? The only way to get leverage is to tell them when we are going to leave? It seems to me that we would have considerably more "leverage" if our emeny was convinced that our resolve was rock solid and that they could choose to cooperate or die.
I'm sure that the irony is lost on Mr. Friedman that the actions of his employer have served to reduce the "leverage" this country has to negotiate with any government in the middle east.
A $45/barrel floor? What do
February 6, 2007 - 13:28 ET by walkA $45/barrel floor? What does that do? This clown writes a book indicating that corporations out-source and there are gains from trade and that makes him an economic authority?
If $70/barrel is not an incentive, how does $45/barrel help. Heck, we haven't seen oil that low in a long time.
Thanks Mr. Friedman. I real
February 6, 2007 - 14:17 ET by Darth DutchThanks Mr. Friedman. I really look forward to paying more at the pump than I already am, at about $2.50 a gallon.
And, to your point of finding alternatives to energy and conservation, I'm absolutely certain that you would in no way advocate the creation of any additional tax to replace the taxes we currently pay on gasoline. My wallet is safe with you Thomas Friedman...
Dutch
Vieira
February 6, 2007 - 15:42 ET by iveseenitallFreidman and Vieira. A windbag and an airhead. That's '"must see" t.v. for 'ya!
NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal