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The new environmental bill being shoved through congress is sure to destroy the economy of the United States. Over the weekend, it jumped from 950 pages to 1,200 pages, with major issues still being changed and edited. But, Pelosi still is planning a vote for Friday.
The supporters of the bill have said that the cap and trade bill will only cost the average household $175/year, by 2020, but it is a deceiving figure. Cap and trade, which limits the amount of CO2 emissions, is going to be rolled out in phases, meaning there will be lose restrictions right away, then become much stricter in the years to come. The figure of $175/year in 2020 is before the real restrictions kick in.
Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which came up with the 175 figure, only examined the day-to-day costs of the program and failed to look at the broader implications that cap and trade would have on our economy. The CBO even acknowledged, in a footnote, that “the resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap.”
What does that mean? It means the $175 annual cost only figures in things such home energy costs, fuel costs, and electricity cost. You will pay $175 more to heat your house, fill up your gas tank and run your microwave. The basic idea is to get you to spend less and save more, but that will have a domino effect.
If you spend less, you buy less, meaning companies produce less, which causes prices on products to rise. Additionally, if a company produces less, it does not need as many employees, so people will lose their jobs. If a company cannot cut production, it will cost them more to run their companies, so they may find it financially benefitial to take their company out of the United States, which also results in the loss of American jobs.
This also puts the United States at a disadvantage with the rest of the world, especially countries like China and India. They’re not instituting cap and trade, which means they will be producing more for less. You can already see this in products, such as cars. You can go buy a new Kia for $10,000, or get a comparable American car for $25,000. No wonder the Big 3 failed.
Ramming this bill through congress is going to be one of the biggest mistakes of our new president’s short and horrifying career. It will cost tax payers dearly, it will handicap the US economy and it won’t have a single environmental impact. It’s only a democratic effort to make them feel good about themselves. This is the ultimate penance for the religion of environmentalism.
The Wall Street Journal summed things up nicely, I think (see the external link)…
“The reality is that cost estimates for climate legislation are as unreliable as the models predicting climate change. What comes out of the computer is a function of what politicians type in. A better indicator might be what other countries are already experiencing. Britain's Taxpayer Alliance estimates the average family there is paying nearly $1,300 a year in green taxes for carbon-cutting programs in effect only a few years.
Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history. Even Democrats can't repeal that reality.”
(Thank you WSJ, for all the neat stats.)