Tag Archives: Cap and Trade

Obama the Hypocrite

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It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Obama is a hypocrite, after all most politicians are. However, what makes Obama’s hypocrisy especially hypocritical was his alleged intent to quash the “politics of the past.” So much for that.

So far in his presidency Obama has been Bush-lite. He’s upheld basically the same foreign policy plan, with the exception of being a little less buddy-buddy with Israel, and his economic plan of bailouts and stimulus was influenced by Bush’s response to the economic crisis.

However, Obama has side stepped on another front as well, a much more important front in my opinion. During the campaign he promised that bills would be online for review by the public a full five days before the bill was signed into law. I assume this was so the public could catch any irregularities and then call Washington to see if they’d fix it. Of course, Washington doesn’t usually pick up the phone, and when they do they usually find a reason not to listen to the caller.

Unfortunately, many people were duped by this unrealistic utopia of government, and not surprisingly Obama hasn’t upheld his promise. At least the intention to pass legislation that the people approved of and that was complete and necessary was good.

But Obama seems to be abandoning that cry from the campaign trail. Not only hasn’t he forgot about the public review he promised, he’s also endorsed, twice now, legislation that was rammed through Congress without being so much as read.

During his radio address this week Obama praised the passage of the Waxman-Markey bill through the House. The over 1,200 page bill was passed without even being read and a 300 page amendment was tacked on early in the morning. As a matter of fact, only a few hours before the bill was passed there wasn’t even a current version in the House chamber. But Obama clearly endorsed the passage and called on the Senate to do the same.

“My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this,” he said. “We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don’t believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth.”

Ya know what Obama, don’t call on me to do anything. I’m not afraid of the future, I’m afraid of this bill, and so should every American who enjoys being employed.

And the “misinformation out there?” Please, if you’re going to call something misinformation please provide information that is “correct” or “accurate.”

This bill will force massive costs down the throats of businesses and consumers. Instead of praising the passage of a bill that wasn’t even read, Obama should be condemning Congress for their blatant disregard for what’s right for the American people. He should be urging them to pass complete and necessary legislation that has been fully debated, not a hastily made 1,200 page toilet paper roll.

Please Obama, take a look at some of your speeches on the campaign trail and at least try to follow through on something you promised.

–jb

The Bodcast Cap and Trade Special

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I spent the entire time complaining about cap and trade.

As I said in the show, my beef with this whole situation isn’t necessarily the terrible legislation that is cap and trade, but rather the blatant disregard for the American people being shown by the democrats attempting to rush this bill through Congress. The job of Congress is not only to legislate, but create good, necessary, and meaningful legislation that is well thought out and complete. By rushing this bill through the House and not allowing any member to read it in full, Congress has not done their job. They have failed us and this isn’t the first time.

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The Cap and Trade Smoke Screen

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On the campaign trail Barack Obama repeatedly said that he would not raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000. He’s already thrown that promise out the window once by signing an increase to the sin tax (an increase on the price of tobacco), but he’s about to break that promise again if he signs Cap and Trade into law.

Many people don’t know cap and trade outside of the media spin zone. The media, and the Obama administration, would like you to believe that cap and trade is a market based initiative to reduce America’s carbon footprint, sounds so environmentally conscious.

The fact of the matter is cap and trade is the exact opposite of market based, the only thing market based about it is the massive regulation it imposes on the free market. As for reducing American’s carbon footprint, that’s not very likely either. An analysis of an earlier cap and trade bill, the Lieberman-Warner bill, showed the program would only reduce CO2 levels by 1.4% by 2050. Then there’s the European cap and trade which actually increased CO2 levels.

However, the glaring issue with cap and trade is the cost to businesses and consumers. To understand this component of cap and trade you have to grasp how it works. So let’s dive in to a quick cap and trade crash course.

Currently if a business wants to emit carbon dioxide they can, they don’t have to pay the government to do so and they don’t need permission from anyone. Under cap and trade this would all change, business who want to emit carbon dioxide would have to purchase a permit from the government.

For some bizarre reason the government believes they own the troposphere (fun fact, they don’t, actually I wouldn’t be surprised if Britain still owns it, after all at one point they basically owned the entire planet). As the self proclaimed owner for the air above our country, the government, under cap and trade, will grant permission to businesses to pollute that area.

However, it will come at a cost; this is where the cap comes in. Under the Waxman-Markey bill the government will begin the program charging $28 per ton of carbon. Each year that price will go up. The idea is that the high price of emitting carbon dioxide will create a massive disincentive to pollute and businesses will curtail their pollution.

So, where the heck is the trade at? This is the part that Washington calls “market based.” If a company purchases too many carbon permits they can trade, or sell, those permits to another business. This way business will not have wasted money on carbon they didn’t emit.

Now, anyone that passed second grade can see that this will increase costs for business. Whether they pollute thousands of tons or just one ton, it will cost them more money. And those added costs will be paid by the consumers through higher energy prices and high prices for basic goods.

The Heritage Foundation found that by 2035 this cap and trade bill will increase electricity costs by 90%, gasoline by 58%, and natural gas by 55%. All told a household of four can expect to pay $1,241 more for energy each year.

Oh, but it doesn’t stop there. Think for a minute, what delivers bread to the grocery store and Snuggies to the local Wal-Mart? It’s not the magic delivery fairly; it’s a massive gas guzzling diesel truck. If gasoline prices go up so will the cost of delivery for nearly every good on store shelves. If the price for delivery goes up, the price stores buy it for goes up. And finally, if the store has to purchase it at a higher price, they will sell it for a higher price. It’s basic economics.

Cap and trade is obviously a bad idea. History tells us it won’t reduce the amount of carbon in the air, and a third grade economics course tells us that it will cost consumers a pretty penny, and in this economic time pennies are looking a lot prettier. So why is the left so hell bent on jamming this massive tax down our throats?

Many will say it’s to further infringe on our civil liberties and businesses freedom to emit carbon dioxide. While that will be the product of cap and trade, I don’t think that’s the reason for the legislation. I also don’t think it has anything to do with saving the earth, after all carbon will barely be reduced.

The one thing this legislation does well is generate revenue. Businesses will be forced to purchase carbon credits; the government will make billions of dollars. They say this money will be reinvested in “green” projects and “green” research, but who actually trusts the government to appropriate money? Revenues from cap and trade will be used for universal health care and all the other socialized programs the left wants to impose upon us.

Think about it, Obama is going to have to raise taxes to pay for universal health care, but people aren’t exactly receptive of higher taxes. However, if he hides it behind a smoke screen like “saving the earth” people don’t notice it. They’ll see their energy bills and grocery bills go up, but most won’t connect the dots back to the government.

When Obama said he wasn’t going to raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 he knew he was lying through his teeth. He had every intention of raising everyone’s taxes to pay for all his lofty socialized fantasies. He was just planning on hiding those taxes behind an environmental smoke screen, and hope we were all too stupid to notice.