Instead, we have created a patchwork quilt of energy subsidies and tax credits that has bifurcated into two camps: Permanent tax credits for the fossil fuel industry and temporarycredits and subsidies for the renewable energy industry.
In successive administrations, the country has spent trillions in temporary tax credits and short-term "stimulus" to goose growth by the next election.
Individual taxpayers, for their part, got some temporary new credits for the purchase of hybrid vehicles and the installation of energy-efficient windows and solar heaters.