Last week, the Obama administration and Congress did it again. It seems that no matter how many times I tell myself that I won't be fooled by their sleight-of-hand and misdirection, they still catch me napping. This time it was cap-and-trade, and the deception was much more polished than Bullwinkle's, but the effect was the same. Allow me to back up and explain.
For a couple of weeks, the administration has been focused on the election results in Iran and the resulting protests. The Senate, on the other hand, had a number of prominant health care "reform" proposals reviewed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). However, both of these things just served to draw attention away from the House of Representatives. And just like the audience watching a master illusionist, such as David Copperfield, I allowed myself to focus my attention on the left hand oblivious to the seemingly insignificant (yet critical) actions of the right hand. My last post was on health care because I bought into the idea that it would be the next issue in the Obamagenda that Congress would attempt to force through. How painfully wrong I was!
Cap and trade is wrong on so many levels, it is hard to know where to begin. Let's start with a clear definition of what cap and trade means. The "cap" is a limit that Congress would impose on greenhouse gas emissions (mainly carbon dioxide). This is scaled to a percentage of the emissions the United States produced in 2005. The House bill would require that the US emit no more than 83% of 2005 levels of carbon dioxide by 2020, and no more than 17% of 2005 levels by 2050. To put that in perspective, that means reducing our carbon dioxide levels back to 1992 levels by 2020, and to the levels emitted by the fabulously industrialized nations of Africa circa 1990 by 2050. The "cap" portion of the bill will basically force some industries (those that produce greenhouse gasses in large quantities) out of business.
The "trade" part of the bill is where the lion's share of the damage will occur. The basic idea is that each company will be allowed by the federal government to emit a certain level of greenhouse gasses. If they emit more than the allowable level of carbon dioxide, they will have to purchase credits that allow them to produce more. Who do they purchase them from? From companies that produce less than their allotment. These companies are allowed to auction their credits through government-sponsored exchanges. Of course, the government takes a cut of each transaction - a broker's fee, if you will. This system of "trading" credits is where the federal government hopes to raise more than $870,000,000,000 ($870 billion) over ten years in new revenue. Make no mistake about it - this is a new tax that will ultimately affect every person in this country in the form of higher food prices, higher energy costs, higher gas prices, and higher prices on manufactured goods.
I mentioned that this was similar to Bullwinkle pulling a rabbit out of his hat. Anyone old enough to remember Rocky and Bullwinkle (like me) knows that he never actually pulled out a rabbit; it was most often a lion or other dangerous animal that he had to quickly stuff back into the hat. In the same way, the House of Representatives tried to produce a rabbit and pulled out a hungry lion instead. Congress has passed a bill without reading it (especially since Rep. Waxman added a 300+ page amendment to the bill at 3:09 AM on the morning it was being voted on) after only being allowed 5 minutes of debate per amendment (and only 5 hours of debate total) that will result in an enormous increase in taxes (at least $2,870 per person using preliminary CBO numbers which did not include the last-minute amendments to buy votes) and a severe blow to American businesses (in a time of deep recession/depression) when almost 10% of Americans are unemployed. And all of this in order to supposedly "save the planet" from man-made global warming, even though even the bills proponents have confessed that it will not really do much to lower the temperatures of the Earth.
Oh, and let's not forget one other little detail:
There is no authority granted to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution to tell us how much we can drive, what kinds of products to buy, what fuels to use, or any other aspect of this bill.
Just like Bullwinkle, we have only one hope - let's make sure we shove this lion back in the hat quick! Please contact your Senators and let them know that this is the wrong approach on the wrong problem at the wrong time and that you will not put up with any excuses from them if they vote for it! As Scott Ott (a political satirist and contributor to the Washington Examiner) said on Twitter the other day, "Dear Congress, You cap us, we trade you! Your Boss."
For a more detailed summary of the impacts of the bill, I invite you to check out the Heritage Foundation's website.
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