Plasma TVs: CO2 Emitting Demons or Stimulative Saints?

First, England prosecutes the Metric Martyrs, for selling veggies by the pound, then the state of New York considers a tax on sugar- laced sodas aiming to protect citizens against obesity wether they want to be thin or not, and now the EU will ban certain types of energy hogging, CO2 emitting  plasma televisions.  Fiona Macrae of Mail Online writes in an article titled, "Energy-guzzling plasma TVs will be banned in Brussels eco blitz,"

Giant energy-guzzling flatscreens are expected to be banned under legislation due to be agreed by the EU this spring.

Plasma screens have been nicknamed the '4x4s' of the living room because they use up to four times as much electricity and are responsible for up to four times as much carbon dioxide as traditional cathode ray tube sets.

The most energy intensive will be phased out under the new EU standards for minimum energy performance...

The remaining TVs of all types will have to carry energy rating labels designed to make it easy to distinguish between the best and worst performers.

The moves are part of an effort to tackle climate change by stemming the spiralling electricity consumption in households...

Families have nearly three times as many electrical appliances and gadgets as a generation ago and the amount of electricity used to power them has doubled.

The government's economic justification is that the three named activities create negative externalities in which your private transactions affect third parties, and sometimes all of mankind!  Sell veggies by the pound, and your neighbors might not ever figure out the kilo.  Drink sugary sodas, and New York taxpayers may have to pick up some of your medical costs.  And worst of all, watch a plasma television and cause the polar ice caps to melt, polar bears to drown, sea levels to rise, and perhaps eliminate humans from our planet.

Maybe, some of the externalities are real.  Maybe anthropogenic global warming does threaten to impose large costs on society, but please, don't ban plasma televisions, or any other device. 

I confess that I have more electric gadgets than I did when I was a child, and I further confess that I like them all: my leaf blower, iPod, multiple televisions, microwave, cell phone, and believe me I could go on.  In the future, I hope to have more gadgets, not less.  Just tax electricity at a little higher rate like New York is doing with sodas, and let consumers decide how best to reduce their electrical consumption. 

Let me offer an alternative theory.  Plasma televisions are not  devils, but angels, offering a much needed stimulus to the world economy.  Electricity is a complementary good, and the more plasma TVs, the more windmills, nuclear power plants, and other green forms of energy.  Jobs will be created, the economy will expand, and full employment restored.  Maybe, just maybe, we can also drink more sugary sodas, which will induce us to buy more treadmills, stationary bicycles, continuing this virtuous cycle of job creating consumption.