... and nobody's paying attention.
... The Wall Street Journal has a great artcle today on a bill going before Congress, a bill huge in its consequences but yet receiving very little air play... go figure.
http://www.aier.org/research/commentari ... -consumers
... Some snapshots:
Despite House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman's many payoffs to Members, rural and Blue Dog Democrats remain wary of voting for a bill that will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers
The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy. The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."
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The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.
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Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill's restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.
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Low-income Americans, who devote more of their disposable income to energy, have more to lose than high-income families.
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Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won't pinch wallets, behind the scenes they've acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them.
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... It will be the biggest tax in American history, spread across every class of America...
... If you think this is about going green and helping the environment, you are sorely mistaken. Billions are to be made in the brokerage of carbon credits (I'll avoid the Al Gore brokerage connection here), a brokerage that cannot exist without the passage of this bill.
... Americans are idiots, on the whole, to let this manner of abuse move forward without screaming. They'll march in the streets to save a newt, or to save an old building from being torn down, but when the screws are put to their kids to the tune of several thousands of dollars a year for the forseeable future... not a peep.
... Lack of education... too much American Idol (?)
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... Also, a detailed cost analysis of projected increases in various fuels based on the "value" of carbon to be traded.
http://www.aier.org/research/commentari ... -consumers
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