CBS "Early Show" - Transcript

Interview

MR. SMITH: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking on global warming, calling for a national carbon tax. He's also featured in the current issue of Newsweek magazine. And Mayor Bloomberg is with us this morning.

Good morning.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

MR. SMITH: You gave a speech on Friday at the National Association of Mayors in Seattle asking for a carbon tax. What is it exactly?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: I want to tax carbon and move the money over to reduce payroll taxes, so net-net we don't have any greater taxes, but we use our money more intelligently.

MR. SMITH: Who gets taxed?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: People who generate carbon and put it into the air, that pollute the air that you breathe and that I breathe and that's causing worldwide changes over the long term in our environment.

MR. SMITH: Something similar to this has been advocated for a long time, the sort of cap and trade. Big polluters would have certain levels. If they get below them, then they could trade them to people who pollute more. A lot of people have said that's the way to go. Why is yours better than theirs?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Cap and trade says if you're a bad polluter, you can keep polluting and hurting the environment that your company is in as long as somebody on the other side of the world reduces their carbon emissions. That may be good net-net for the world, but number one, I don't know whether they're going to do it overseas; and number two, it doesn't help the people that live near your plant.

MR. SMITH: Right. Why this and why now, and how important do you feel it is to enact something like this as soon as possible?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Well, there's no question that we're damaging our environment. Here in New York City we've got a plan to plant a million trees, to reduce the number of cars on the streets, to make buildings pollute a lot less, to do a lot of things, because we have a situation where kids are going to the hospital with asthma rates higher than the national average. And I think everybody understands -- the administration, everybody else -- that we are damaging our environment.

MR. SMITH: Do you think the administration --

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Yeah, I think the dialogue has gone from "This is a communist plot" to "Maybe we don't have to pay for it now; maybe I don't have to do it. Let's argue about how to do it. Let's not do it unless everybody else does it." But the dialogue has switched from whether or not it exists to what to do.

MR. SMITH: Right. On the other hand, you have states like California, New Jersey, even Florida have said, "We want to reduce tailpipe emissions, everything else." The federal government says, "Whoa, whoa." They're ready to sue the EPA.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Look, Washington is immobilized. They are unable to do anything about it. And so you see governors across this country and mayors across this country saying, "We can't wait for Washington. Let's do something, because the people we represent are breathing bad air."

MR. SMITH: Right. Now, if I didn't know better, you could almost pull that out as a sound bite and it could have sounded like something said by a presidential candidate.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Well, you would hope that that's right, and you would hope that all the Republican and Democratic candidates would address the issue and would say not just, "I'm in favor of motherhood and apple pie," but "How are we going to do it? Who's going to pay for it? When can you get it in?"

They talk about -- Congress talks about goals to reduce carbon in the year 2050. How many people in Congress today are going to be alive in 2050? Just do the math; not very many.

MR. SMITH: Right.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: We need to do something now.

MR. SMITH: Manhattan will be underwater by 2050.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: I don't know that Manhattan will be underwater, but certainly the environment is going to be a lot worse that we leave our children.

MR. SMITH: Yeah. So, speaking of this notion of running for president and why these other candidates haven't said these very things, how frustrating is it for you that they don't say these things?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Governors and mayors can't say, "I'm in favor of something, but I'm not going to tell you how I'm going to do it." Governors and mayors have to be judged the next day of whether they got it done.

MR. SMITH: Right.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: And it is frustrating for those that are in the executive branches of government to see people who just keep saying, "We'll do it. Elect me and then trust me. I will do it." We don't have that luxury.

MR. SMITH: All right, your political adviser, Kevin Sheekey, says he actually has a plan. And the Newsweek article that's out today basically says if he can convince you you can win the Electoral College that you'll run for president.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Look, I haven't --

MR. SMITH: Why don't you announce now?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Because I have 787, 786 days left --

MR. SMITH: Oh, you always say that. You always say that.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: But I have the greatest job in the world, and I'm thrilled to do it.

MR. SMITH: Well, you would take another one if you had the opportunity.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Well, when I finish this, which is the end of '09.

MR. SMITH: Right.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Look, I'm not a candidate for president, but I do think that --

MR. SMITH: Let's just --

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: No, that's not the right question. The right question is, how do you get those --

MR. SMITH: (Inaudible.)

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: -- out there to speak out and address the issues? And if you take a look, mayors have addressed crime in the streets, and in New York City we brought crime down. They've addressed public education. We've improved the public schools. They're doing something about the environment.

And what we've got to do is somehow or other to get people who are paralyzed by partisanship to start working together. This country doesn't need somebody that's going to say, "My party versus your party." This country needs somebody that says, "I'm going to get the best from both parties" and pull them together, like Sarkozy did in France. Once he got elected, he really did pull people together.

MR. SMITH: Yeah.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: And we've got to do that.

MR. SMITH: All right, Mayor Bloomberg, thanks so much for being with us.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Thanks for having me.

MR. SMITH: We really appreciate it. I'm breathing easier already.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: (Laughs.)

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