Am I the only one.....................

................that thinks that Greg Mankiw is being a bit naive here?

Two such problems are global climate change from human carbon emissions and the looming fiscal imbalance as more baby boomers retire and start collecting Social Security and Medicare. These problems are hardly a secret, but few in Washington want to talk about them.

One approach is easy to envision. A tax on carbon emissions would encourage the movement toward cleaner energies and raise revenue for the public purse, helping address both problems.