Cap and Tax- Time to Act

Remember how angry we were when we found out our representatives never read the stimulus bill before signing it? Well they heard our cry. Sort of. Congress is currently looking at the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade tax bill. Now you may have thought that after the tea parties and protests about how the stimulus bill was handled, Congress would return to the old system of sitting down with their staff and reading the bill. You would be wrong. The Democrats were concerned that members of the GOP would slow down the legislative process by requesting time to read the bill (the audacity!). So guess what they did to keep the process moving?….Hired a speed reader. He will read the bill for them and summarize later. Problem solved! You can read more about it here. You can tell your representatives that this is not the same thing as reading the bill by signing a petition here.

There is also a new study out that shows the true cost of Cap and Trade. Not only will energy costs, and as a result the prices of goods and services, skyrocket, but wages will suffer dramatically as well. Estimates show that by 2030 the national GDP would fall roughly $350 billion dollars below the baseline level. The President claims this bill will create job opportunities, but even with the new “green jobs,” we look to lose about 250 million jobs, and wages are expected to fall by about $390 annually for the average worker. Combine this with the certain cost of living increase, and you can see how dangerous this bill really is. Here is a more detailed look at the report.

For an administration that claims to champion the causes of poorer Americans, they sure seem bent on making life a lot more difficult for those who are barely making ends meet. Cap and Trade is not a market-based system. There is no market for imaginary carbon -credits. It is a tax. A great, big, change your life, take your job, cost you big-time, TAX. Period. There is no possible benefit. Imagine if during the first years of the automobile, the government had imposed the requirements that we have today. The cars would have cost more than people could afford (imagine a car costing 15,00 just in production costs, back then), and would have been terribly unreliable (without decades of gradual improvements). The automobile industry would have died. People would have looked at the expensive and unreliable car and said, “I’m sticking with my horse and buggy.” Going green is absolutely worthless, if energy companies and consumers don’t have the cash that is required to get new technology rolling. As cleaner, more efficient technologies become available, they are rewarded in the market place. It is a slow process, but if you cripple the economy, all progress stops. Do you really believe that over taxed energy companies and consumers are going to have a penny to spare for investment in new technology? Even if they wanted to, they will not be in a financial position to experiment, they will be forced to go with the tried-and-true methods. This bill makes no sense on any level. Call, write, do whatever it takes. Don’t let Cap-and-Tax become law.