According to a study by Andrew Chamberlain, it is the shareholders, not ratepayers, who will be the primary beneficiaries of cap-and-trade's absurd creation of a market for the purchase and sale of "carbon credits."
Here's a look at the introduction of a draft bill co-sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), co-sponsored by John Kerry (D-MA). It is the Senate alternative to the horrid "Cap-and-Trade" bill authored by Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Representative Ed Markey (D-MA). Call it "Cap-and-Switch."
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
A BILL
To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence,
reduce global warming pollution, and transition to a
clean energy economy.
All those who believe Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Jolly Green Giant are real should stop reading now.
Let's look at the objectives of the Senate version of a huge tax on all energy use by every American. As I will note later, the bulk of the cost will fall on low- and middle-income households.
"To create clean energy jobs." This is pure bunk. Such jobs would be primarily in the production of solar and wind energy. Other such jobs involve biofuels such as ethanol. Combined, solar and wind represent barely one percent of all the electricity generated daily in the nation. If solar and wind were profitable, you can be sure that American entrepreneurs would have long ago become more active, but if it were not for taxpayer dollars subsidizing solar and wind, neither would likely exist.
The only thing ethanol has done has been to raise the cost of the corn from which it is made and reduced the mileage of every gallon of gasoline to which it is added.
Testifying on September 30 before the House Committee on Small Business, Manning Feraci, Vice President of Federal Affairs for the National Biodiesel Board was seeking a continuation of the industry tax incentive. He said, "the industry is in the midst of an economic crisis. Plants are having difficulty accessing operating capital. Volatility in commodity markets and reduced demand for biodiesel in both domestic and global markets are making it difficult for producers to sell fuel." Nobody wants it!
There will be few "clean energy jobs" as compared to the employment that coal, oil and natural gas industries currently provide and could expand upon if the government wasn't trying to put them out of business.
"Achieve energy independence." Are you stupid? Boxer, Kerry, Waxman and Markey think you are. So does the President and many members of Congress.
How does America achieve "energy independence" when it will not allow the oil in Alaska's ANWR to be extracted? When 85% of the nation's offshore continental shelf, home to estimated billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, is off-limits to any exploration and drilling? When the President wants to eliminate the current subsidies that encourage oil companies to invest billions to find new reserves? When there is a full-scale attack on America's coal industry even though coal provides half of all the electricity we use?
Just how does America "achieve energy independence" under such circumstances? How, indeed, do we heat or cool our homes, run our businesses, or even turn on the lights if Congress is opposed to the acquisition and use of our known and estimated energy reserves? Pretty soon, for reasons that defy understanding, Americans will not even be able to purchase an incandescent light bulb in the nation where it was invented!
"Reduce global warming pollution." First of all, there is NO global warming. Why would Congress pass a law intended to deal with something that is a complete hoax? And what is global warming pollution? Is it the second most essential gas to all life on Earth, carbon dioxide (CO2)? If so, this law is scientifically absurd and baseless. CO2 never had anything to do with the warming that occurred after the end of the last little ice age, around 1850.
No matter what the Supreme Court and others have ruled, if CO2 is a "pollutant," then we should all be in jail because that's what we and other mammals exhale. It also occurs when energy sources such as coal and oil are used to keep factories producing, along with hospitals, schools, airports, seaports, and the Capitol of the United States functioning.
"Transition to a clean energy economy." Oh sure, just as soon as we cover hundreds of thousands of acres of America with solar mirrors and wind turbines, we can make that transition. We have an economy that is dependent on coal, oil and natural gas. We have abundant natural reserves. What we don't have is a President and Congress with the intelligence to understand that China is building a new coal-fired plant every week to meet its energy needs, that India has an aggressive nuclear energy program going for its economy, and this single piece of legislation will destroy any hope that the American economy can recover and grow strong again.
According to a study of the Waxman-Markey bill by Andrew Chamberlain, it will be the shareholders, not ratepayers, that will be the primary beneficiaries of cap-and-trade's absurd creation of a market for the purchase and sale of "carbon credits." It will be based on how much CO2 a utility, industrial, or any other entity is producing. The credits will literally permit them to keep on "polluting" even though that means "global warming" would, in theory, just get worse. Even though there is NO global warming. Make sense to you?
Chamberlain succinctly says: "These new findings should send a clear message to the American people (that) cap-and-trade helps the powerful and hurts the rest of us. And as Congress' corporate allies receive the bulk of the benefits Waxman-Markey has to offer, our environment, along with our struggling economy, will suffer for years to come."
"Congress needs to get out of the business of picking winners and losers and allow the market to determine which energy and electricity sources should power our economy."
I leave you with a short list of just some of the U.S. corporations seeking to benefit from this hideous piece of legislation. Twelve of them sent an open letter to the U.S. Senate urging swift action on the climate change bill. They are Bumble Bee Foods, Dell, DuPont, FPL Group, Google, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson Diversity, Levi Strauss & Company, Nike, PG&E Corporation, and Xanterra Parks and Resorts.
Time to let your Congressman and Senators know you think this is a very bad idea.
Alan,
First of all; the bill sponsored by Senators Boxer and Kerry is called The Clean Energy, Jobs, and American Power Act; not the ‘cap-and-switch-bill’.
In your essay you state that; “if solar and wind were profitable, you can be sure that American entrepreneurs would have long ago become more active…” Get ready for the boom. This legislation will guarantee that wind and solar power will be cost competitive by driving the cost of producing power with conventional fuels to dizzying heights.
Furthermore; it won’t significantly effect employment in the coal industry. You don’t think that just because we’ll outlaw coal here that we’ll leave all that stuff in the ground, do you? Of course not! You point out yourself that the Chinese are opening another coal-fired power plant every week. We’ll just sell that nasty stuff to them.
Besides; we’ve flaunted our economic success in front of the rest of the world long enough; thank you very much. It’ll do us some good to learn some humility and live with the same unemployment rates and restricted incomes long enjoyed by the Western European countries.
We’re already pursuing universal health care. The Clean Energy, Jobs, and American Power Act, or something very much like it, will significantly alter the economic demographics of this country; putting us on a more ‘equal’ footing with the Western Europeans.
After a few years, our productivity and unemployment rates will begin to more closely mirror those of Western Europe. All that will be left for the US to ‘accomplish’ in order to be France with Swedish tax rates will be 35 hour work weeks, two months paid annual vacation, and to cut the US military by about 75%.
So you see; The Clean Energy, Jobs, and American Power Act will help us achieve parity with our fellows around the world. It is just one step in the journey begun by our great President to ensure that America is never again accused of being a ‘super-power’. We can do this. Yes we can!
You must be lots of fun at a party. You don’t anyone to have any fun if anyone else there isn’t. Apparently America and Americans are terrible people because they have enjoyed prosperity and a lifestyle that others in the world can have if they just get off their butts and stop waiting for the government to do everything for them.
You are so wrong about so many of your assertions I will not spend time disputing them. Meanwhile, I suggest you buy a tent and go live in the wilderness where you will be much happier communing with nature while I continue to enjoy civilization, thank you very much!
Alan,
Holy Scissors! Please man; take a ‘chill pill’! That vein in your head is fixin’ to pop! It was all sarcasm! Apparently I did a much better job with that theme than I thought. Just ask Bernie Reeves or Steve Laib. I’ve been commenting here for quite awhile; and am about as ebullient a conservative as you’ll ever run into.
I just thought it would be interesting to try to author a response as I imagined a ‘publically schooled’ liberal would. I sincerely apologize if I truly caused you any pain. I should probably have realized that any author would naturally post an article he would be deeply sincere about.
However; I thought I’d placed enough tips as to the irony in my response. I personally thought the part about America being accused of being a ‘super power’ was a dead giveaway. Apparently; I was wrong. However; having said that, I’ll say this: My friends think I’m a lot of fun at their parties! Please be of good cheer; and have a wonderful day.
Alan, you missed some satire in milbrat’s comments. Cap and trade or its formal title of The Clean Energy, Jobs, and American Power Act is a piece of legislation which will tax all americans heavily through the increase in cost of production of almost all items that move through our economy. It follows the Democrat model of hiding taxes from the public by making them business taxes (business acts as a collection agent for the government but is constrained from indicating the tax component of the purchase price). Only a fool thinks that businesses, other than those losing money, pay taxes…read that as anyone educated in weak sister schools where economics is not understood.
Milbrat is correct in his estimate of outcomes of the new taxation.
I am not sure that anyone really comes out ahead with this plan.
On a more serious note: You are correct that the current energy policy and I use that term loosely, is not going to take us toward ‘energy independence’. Believe me; I know from personal example.
You couldn’t banish my wife and me any further into the wilderness than we already are. We live on a 10 acre mini ranch in Bonnerdale, Arkansas. Bonnerdale is located about a mile from that line on the map that is marked “beyond here, there be dragons!” The current electrical grid is so unreliable, and the population so sparse, that the combination guarantees that when the power fails it fails for days. We’ve already sunk about ‘eight large’ into an EPS for the house. We’ve also priced solar and it will cost @ $45,000 to get us totally ‘off the grid’. That’s not cheap; but we’re seriously considering it. Our home is 100% electric and our current ‘levelized’ electric bill is @ $150 per month. Under cap & trade we can personally expect that cost to rise by an extra $100 per month minimum.
Other associated costs will have to climb as a result of this legislation. All costs, like taxes, are local. Manufacturers always pass the cost of doing business to the consumer. The accelerated costs that all manufacturers will experience will be passed down the food chain, literally.
Costs for gas, clothing, food, and durable goods will all have to rise by significant percentages in order to account for this new legislation. Though sarcastic in nature, the results listed in my original post are likely to come to pass under such law. Increased unemployment rates, higher prices, and a much lower standard of living are all reasonable future assumptions that can be made if such legislation ever becomes law.
As to how to combat this legislation, I have little to offer. The arcane rules the Congress operate under allow the majority to attach entire bills onto others. They use overwhelmingly popular pieces of legislation as ‘vehicles’ to carry more unpopular bills. Just as the Senate Majority Leader is currently plotting to attach the health care bill as an amendment to an already passed piece of House legislation regarding the taxation of bonuses paid to executives of companies that received TARP funds, they will work overtime to find a way to slide this through under the radar as well.
Our only recourse is to keep the pressure on. If the American people can continue to vocally protest these pieces of legislation, we may be able to drag this out long enough to get a change in the mid term elections.
Okay, you fooled me. As you have discovered, I have very little sense of humor when it comes to my writings since they are intensely researched. I tend to give liberal rantings the back of my hand.