"Cap-and-Trade"
You have heard of this, I am sure. What you may not know is it is a HUGE tax hike on every single American (so much for "95% of all Americans get a tax break").
This will increase the cost of gasoline, diesel, food, electricity, etc., etc. The Detroit News has a great editorial on this today--from a Michigan-centric view, but it can be applied to each and every one of us...
Some points below from the editorial:
The president's budget projects receipts totaling $646 billion through 2019 from the sale of these greenhouse gas permits.
Doing so will drive up the cost of nearly everything and will amount to a major tax increase for American consumers.
Such a tax will hit the Midwest particularly hard, which is why House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, told the New York Times, "let's just be honest and call it a carbon tax that will increase taxes on all Americans who drive a car, who have a job, who turn on a light switch, pure and simple."
The carbon tax will be paid by energy companies, manufacturers and public utilities, who will pass the cost on to their consumers.The proposed tax would take effect in 2012 and has the very real potential to throw the nation back into recession, if indeed the expected recovery has arrived by then. It's impossible to raise costs for such basics as manufacturing and energy production by more than half a trillion dollars over a decade and not have the effects felt across the economy.
This would be a tax on each household in the US of nearly $6500 over the first seven years of the plan...
Look, people, we CANNOT afford to raise taxes right now...FDR did it in '36 and caused the recession of '37 (in the middle of the Depression) which had unemployment shoot back up to over 19% and the GDP suffer a stronger contraction.
This Congress and Administration are engaged in "GENERATIONAL THEFT" mortgaging my sons' futures. IT IS TIME TO STOP GOVERNMENT'S SPENDING---this "Stimulus" bill is LARGER THAN THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT BUDGET OF 1982!!!
STOP THIS RIDE---I WANT TO GET OFF!!!
3 comments:
Let me just say that I disagree. (of course!) This is why. Time Magazine recently did a cover story on "America's untapped Energy Resource: Boosting Efficiency." I encourage you to read it. I think that last summer's record breaking gas prices showed us that we are capable of cutting back and using less fossil fuels to fuel our daily lives. What this carbon tax (I'll use your words, cause it doesn't bother me) will do is promote energy efficiency. We should think before we get into our cars, "What path to do my errands today is going to use less fuel?" And then follow that and use less fuel. We mindlessly turn on lights and even more mindlessly forget to turn them off. Why shouldn't we all be more aware of the energy we use? I love it!
Oh, and join the Picken's Plan at http://www.pickensplan.com/act/
Jodi,
Interesting response, but with what in Jim's original comments are you disagreeing?
His comments can succinctly be summarized as the general government is forecasting revenues for the next ten years based upon the sale of “greenhouse gas permits.” Whether you call this a tax, usage fee or environmentally sensitive contribution, the net result is the same. The general consumer will pay more for energy. As demonstrated as oil approached $150 per barrel last summer, the increased costs of production (manufacturing requires energy) and distribution (transportation) are passed onto consumers. Intended or not, every parent of every income level will pay more for basic and essential commodities such as milk and bread. Even if one walks or bicycles to work, one pays more for food, clothing and shelter.
Unlike governments that can tax or print money, private citizens can only absorb increased costs by (1) borrowing--a short term solution at best or (2) reducing expenditures. As our president lamented in his recent speech (April 14th), contractions in consumer spending obviously do not have positive effects on economic growth.
The theme of your response was conservation. As all energy has an economic price, reckless consumption of resources is already penalized by the market. If I leave all of my lights on, or even all of my laptop and cell phone power adapters plugged in when not in use (vampire energy consumption), I am already penalized for imprudent choices.
The real question before us is whether policy planners and politicians in Washington, DC can use “tax policy” or other regulatory efforts to effectively alter the behavioral patterns of three hundred million citizens that promote energy conservation without creating economic chaos. Or more simply, what economic system will produce the most optimal use of limited resources: the free market or a command economy?
Clearly if gasoline is $5 per gallon, I shall be very prudent in the use of my SUV; nonetheless, if this price is artificially inflated by government statute, how will the noble legislators avoid the law of unintended consequences of increased energy costs rippling through every aspect of a modern economy.
John Locke
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