Cap-and-trade: Temple of Doom?

Climate scientist/activist James Hansen calls cap-and-trade a "temple of doom". This much I agree with:

I get a lot of e-mails telling me to stick to climate, that I don’t know anything about economics. I know this: The fundamental requirement for transition to the post-fossil fuel era is a substantial and rising price on carbon emissions. And businesses and consumers must understand that it will continue to rise in the future.

And I know what he means when he says this:

People with the gumption to parse the 648-pages come out with estimates of a price impact on petrol between 12 and 20 cents per gallon. It has to be kept small and ineffectual, because they want to claim that it does not affect energy prices!

In fact, I saw an EDF publication the other day that said that cap-and-trade would only raise electricity prices by something like 10 cents per household per month. (I could have the number wrong, but it was a tiny tiny amount.)

Now, the challenge is whether we can actually make more progress by sailing directly into the wind with a carbon tax. Heck, I dunno... that's politics, not economics, and Hansen and I both know next to nothing about that.

PS. Meanwhile, a friend sends over a draft document from the Breakthrough Institute:

Given the technological and political realities, the primary policy focus for creating a low-carbon economy should shift from making dirty energy expensive to making clean energy cheap.

Well, okay, but how do you do that? Their answer (not mine): government action.