You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2009.
If you’re looking for the total cost of cap and tax, you won’t find it at the Congressional Budget Office. CBO Ignores Economic Impact of Democrats’ Climate Bill
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did not calculate the economic costs of House Democrats’ massive cap and trade legislation, only accounting for how the government plans to collect and redistribute revenues from selling carbon emissions permits.
The analysis, which was released June 19, shows that if Democrats’ carbon reduction schemes turn out exactly as planned, government will be able to largely mitigate the per-household financial impact of a cap and trade system by redistributing the revenues collected from businesses across the population, resulting in a net per-household cost of about $165 per year.
However, the CBO report does not examine the economic impact of imposing billions in new operating and production costs on virtually every industry in America. It only assumes that the price businesses pay for the allowances will be directly passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
CBO does not examine the cost from lost production and energy use to the economy, including higher unemployment and reductions in wages and benefits that would come as businesses are forced to cut back on production due to federally mandated reductions in energy usage.
More at the link.
Maybe this is why.
Congress didn’t read this bill, either.
Corporate welfare on a massive scale. From the Washington Post, How a Loophole Benefits GE in Bank Rescue
Industrial Giant Becomes Top Recipient in Debt-Guarantee Program
General Electric, the world’s largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government’s key rescue programs for banks.
At the same time, GE has avoided many of the restrictions facing other financial giants getting help from the government.
The company did not initially qualify for the program, under which the government sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms. But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE.
As a result, GE has joined major banks collectively saving billions of dollars by raising money for their operations at lower interest rates. Public records show that GE Capital, the company’s massive financing arm, has issued nearly a quarter of the $340 billion in debt backed by the program, which is known as the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, or TLGP. The government’s actions have been “powerful and helpful” to the company, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt acknowledged in December.
GE’s finance arm is not classified as a bank. Rather, it worked its way into the rescue program by owning two relatively small Utah banking institutions, illustrating how the loopholes in the U.S. regulatory system are manifest in the government’s historic intervention in the financial crisis.
The Obama administration now wants to close such loopholes as it works to overhaul the financial system. The plan would reaffirm and strengthen the wall between banking and commerce, forcing companies like GE to essentially choose one or the other.
“We’d like to regulate companies according to what they do, rather than what they call themselves or how they charter themselves,” said Andrew Williams, a Treasury spokesman.
It seems not only politicians know how to turn a crisis into an opportunity.
White House announces new lighting standards
Aiming to keep the focus on climate change legislation, President Barack Obama put a plug in for administration efforts to make lamps and lighting equipment use less energy.
“I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and businesses,” the president said, standing alongside Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the White House.
Remaining unaddressed by the President:
The Heritage Foundation estimates that by 2035, the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade plan will:
* Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $7.4 trillion
* Destroy 844,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 1,900,000 jobs
* Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation
* Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent
* Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent
* Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500
* Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 29 percent, or $33,400 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.
It’s easier to change a light bulb than try to justify lowering our standard of living.
Some Sunday satire. Scott Ott’s Scrappleface: EPA to monitor eBay sales of personal carbon emissions
A little-noticed provision of President Obama’s cap-and-trade plan to regulate greenhouse gases authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to monitor the sale of personal carbon dioxide offsets on eBay and Craigslist.
Carbon dioxide, a toxic gas exhaled by every American citizen as well as by domesticated and wild animals, recently came under the regulatory umbrella of the EPA, then moved to the head of the list of clear and present dangers to life on earth.
“Just as corporate carbon offsets penalize companies that manufacture things that experts say most Americans could live without,” an unnamed EPA source said, “personal carbon offsets help people to make more planet-friendly lifestyle choices.”
“Once the carbon dioxide emissions cap is in place,” said the EPA official, “then those citizens whose exertions, or sheer immensity, generate outputs above federally-permitted levels, must purchase offsets from less hazardous citizens. Craigslist and eBay provide the ideal platform for this exchange, since most carbon-offset sellers already spend most of their time online.”
“This could be a real goldmine for shallow breathers, you know, couch potatoes,” the EPA source said. “And for those who over-exert, spewing out earth-threatening gas at an alarming rate, the penalty of paying for these offsets may induce them to reconsider the cost to humanity of all of that breathing.”
Obama, who has had his own “lifelong struggle with excessive exhalation” due to frequent speeches and pickup basketball games, said he plans to purchase his personal offsets on eBay.
“My eBay watch list right now includes a lethargic 17-year-old gamer, and a middle-aged woman who just loves HGTV but never works in her home or garden,” the president said. “I’m the leading bidder on both, and I’m hoping to get one of them for something less than the ‘Buy it Now’ price.
From the Tenth Amendment Center, Know Your Rights or You Will Lose Them
Well, gee whiz, the stimulus is a total fail in another area: Electric Cars Will Not Decrease Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Says Federal Study
The stimulus law enacted in February promoted the purchase of plug-in electric cars by the federal government and the broader market, but a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released this month says that the use of plug-in electric vehicles will not by itself decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
To do that, the report argues, the United States would have to switch from coal-burning plants to lower-emission sources to generate electricity such as nuclear power.
“If you are using coal fired power plants and half the country’s electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?”
Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report and a specialist in energy issues told CNSNews.com.
The report found that the adoption of plug-in cars could result in benefits, including reduced petroleum consumption and dependency.
But it concedes that in regions of the country heavily reliant on coal for power generation, electric plug-in vehicles will not result in a decrease in green house gas emissions.
“Reduction in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy,” GAO reported.
“For plug-ins to reach their full potential, electricity would need to be generated from lower-emission fuels such as nuclear and renewable energy rather than the fossil fuels–coal and natural gas–used most often to generate electricity today.”
So the anticipated results will only occur after a major overhaul of electricity production in the country. Good going, Congress, signing bills without reading them and considering the consequences.
Move America Forward’s Troop-a-thon webcast, Honor Their Service, raised $600,000 for care packages. Congratulations!
Lefty truth squads are on the march. From the Washington Post, Health-Care Activists Targeting Democrats
In the high-stakes battle over health care, a growing cadre of liberal activists is aiming its sharpest firepower against Democratic senators who they accuse of being insufficiently committed to the cause.
The attacks — ranging from tart news releases to full-fledged advertising campaigns — have elicited rebuttals from lawmakers and sparked a debate inside the party over the best strategy for achieving President Obama’s top priority of a comprehensive health-system overhaul.
Who are their targets?
In recent days — and during this week’s congressional recess — left-leaning bloggers and grass-roots organizations such as MoveOn.org, Health Care for America Now and the Service Employees International Union have singled out Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) for the criticism more often reserved for opposition party members.
“Will Mary Landrieu sell out Louisiana for $1.6 million?” says one Internet ad that suggests a link between contributions she has received from the medical industry and her reluctance to back the creation of a government-sponsored insurance option.
More at the link.
Oppose Obamacare but feel voiceless? Go to Tea Party Patriots and find a local organization. Many are focusing their attention on health care reform. Northwest Indiana readers, go here for a local organization.
Here’s an interesting tidbit not covered much by the state-controlled media. From the Washington Times, Winners and losers emerge in climate bill
NEW YORK — In addition to raising energy prices, the climate legislation that’s winding through Congress would create a parallel financial system with a carbon-based currency.
…Everyone from small farmers to nuclear energy companies would be forced to re-evaluate their place in the new order. Power plants, factories and refineries would feel the first impact if the federal government moves ahead with plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and by about 80 percent near the end of the century.
…How much it will affect other industries is still a matter of intense debate, though the primary winners and losers are already emerging.
The Winners:
Solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy companies, including nuclear, are some of the obvious winners in a carbon economy
The Losers:
Anyone who pays an electric bill would likely feel the impact of climate legislation. Utilities will try to raise rates as they invest in cleaner-yet-more-expensive energy sources. Some have already announced plans to do so. Petroleum companies also may try to import more of their refined gas and heating oil from countries with no carbon law, which will raise costs.
Much more at the link.
From Michelle Malkin, Tea Party Watch: Protesting the cap-and-tax cramdown
Impromptu flash protests are taking place today at state capitols and federal buildings across the country.
Chicago. Orlando. Canton, OH. More at her link.
Tea Party Patriots call to action:
The US House of Representatives stealthily passed Cap & Trade just after 7pm eastern on Friday June 26th. They are counting on us not doing anything because it is a weekend and typical vacation week.
They have underestimated Tea Party Patriots, we will not go away quietly into the night.
OBJECTIVE: The 8 Republicans who voted FOR HR 2454 have 5 days to change their votes. Tea Party Patriots should work to mobile enormous numbers of grassroot Patriots to barrage the Tr8tors the next 5 days. We must get them to change their votes, and the clock is ticking.
Here is what we are asking you to do.
We are asking everyone to rally at their county courthouse, federal courthouse or capitol building tomorrow, Saturday June 27th or over the next 5 days.
Justbkuz 