This is what everyone thinks is the only solution, the issue is that it will have different winners and losers than today. And some of the current winners that will be losers have immense political capital and are willing to spend it.

I don't think it's the only solution, but it's pretty much a necessary part of any comprehensive plan of attack. It's the best tool we have.

You're totally right that some current "winners" who benefit from the current state of affairs are fighting and will continue to fight it. That's the case of any major change worth making, though, I think.

So we just pay the losers a fee to go away.

If that means giving Exxon, BP, Shell ... a trillion dollars to just cap all their wells and F'off.... fine. Amortize it over 100 years and pay it down with the tax revenue from carbon.

Fine. As long as we also charge them damages for lying to the public about climate change for all these years.

Consumers willingly purchase and burn hydrocarbons. Joe average consumer is as culpable as some C-suite executive.

And the only viable alternative until very recently... nuclear... is endlessly disparaged as unsafe by 'save the earth' types. So as far as I'm concerned, the green movement is equally culpable on the lying front. Should we charge the Sierra Club luddites too?

what are the 1, 5, and 10 year effects on food prices for a carbon tax at a rate of your choosing?

They go up. Probably by a lot. I didn’t say the taxes would be fun.