The Boxer-Kerry pollution taxes
The Senate has finally rolled out its long-awaited cap-and-trade bill to slash carbon dioxide. Looking at its draconian restrictions on the U.S. economy, it's hard to believe its supporters are serious.I will have more post on this bad bill in the coming days.The Boxer-Kerry bill isn't a whole lot different from the Waxman-Markey bill that was passed by the House of Representatives in June. And that's the problem.
Both bills provide for a "cap-and-trade" system to slash the use of fossil fuels and replace them with solar, wind and other "alternative" energy sources. The idea is to impose strict limits on the output of CO2, a supposed cause of global warming.
If this sounds like a good idea, it isn't. It'll lead to massive new taxes, the demise of entire industries, the elimination of millions of jobs and lost income for all. As the Heritage Foundation found when it ran the numbers on Waxman-Markey, the economic losses entailed in imposing cap-and-trade are enormous.
Over 23 years, a cap-and-trade plan would slash $9.4 trillion from GDP and kill 2.5 million jobs. It would hike gasoline prices by 58%, or $1.40 a gallon. Home electricity rates would soar 90%.
All told, cap-and-trade could cost families an added $1,761 a year in taxes. And no, that's not an estimate cooked up by anti-cap-and-trade activists. That's the White House's own estimate for the costs, which it tried to hush up. Taxpayers will have to pony up as much as $200 billion a year in new taxes, the equivalent of raising everyone's taxes by roughly 15%.
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I suspect these numbers are actually conservative in the damage they will do to our economy and to our lifestyle. Democrats can have all the media events they want in the places where RVs used to be manufactured, but they were the ones who killed this industry with their anti energy agenda.
Neither Boxer or Kerry have the intellect to manage the energy economy. They do not even have the intellect to recognize they are not smart enough for this challenge.
Unfortunately, the US has to drastically reduce its CO2 emissions to avoid an environmental catastrophe. Its problem has been consistent refusal to acknowledge its obligations, leaving it so far behind the EU and even China that the cuts you have to make will be painful. But new industries create new jobs. Reducing energy imports increases America's security. You guys have the skills, and the ability to make this transition and make money out of it. The alternatives are too painful to contemplate...
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