Last night I heard Senator Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) on the Mark Levin Show. They were discussing S. 2191, the Senate "Lieberman/Warner Global Warming Bill and the disastrous effect this would have not on just the country as a whole, but the individual." (My emphasis throughout post.)
Wall Street Journal referred to Cap-and-Trade as Cap and Spend
As the Senate opens debate on its mammoth carbon regulation program
this week, the phrase of the hour is "cap and trade." This sounds
innocuous enough. But anyone who looks at the legislative details will
quickly see that a better description is cap and spend. This is easily
the largest income redistribution scheme since the income tax.
The Washington Post said, Just Call It "Cap-and-Tax"
"...One of the bad ways [to control greenhouse gas] is cap-and-trade. Unfortunately, it's the darling of environmental groups and their political allies.
The
chief political virtue of cap-and-trade -- a complex scheme to reduce
greenhouse gases -- is its complexity. This allows its environmental
supporters to shape public perceptions in essentially deceptive ways.
Cap-and-trade would act as a tax, but it's not described as a tax. It
would regulate economic activity, but it's promoted as a "free market"
mechanism. Finally, it would trigger a tidal wave of
influence-peddling, as lobbyists scrambled to exploit the system for
different industries and localities. This would undermine whatever
abstract advantages the system has.
...Call this "environmental pork," and it would just be a start. The
program's potential to confer subsidies and preferential treatment
would stimulate a lobbying frenzy. Think of today's farm programs --
and multiply by 10.
After listening to Senator Inhofe, I think we could also refer to it as Cap-and-Raid! If it passes, it will raid every worker in America's wallet!
Senator Inhofe said, Senator Barbara Boxer insists this is not a tax bill. But if you have looked into the bill itself and at the linked articles, it is difficult to understand how this could not be considered a tax bill.
Inhofe then quickly listed some points to ponder. He mentioned the Wall Street Journal referring to it as the most extensive reorganization since the 1930s. He called it worse than the Kyoto Treaty for the economy. Cap-and-Trade will need 45 more Big Government Bureaucracies to enforce the standards.
Using Boxer's figures, Inhofe pointed out that Cap-and-Trade would collect $6.7 Trillion dollars from industry (those costs will be passed onto us!). The maximum rebate to customers is $2.5 Trillion dollars. Do the math: That means $4.2 Trillion goes where?
That sounds like a tax to me!
He went on to remind us that the Democrats have killed every domestic drilling bill. The US relies on coal for 53% of all of its electricity production. Cap-and-Trade will tax coal fired electricity production. Consider that China "cranks out a new coal electric plant" every 3 days (?). (I think he said 3 days, which fits with this - certainly between India and China it would be true.)
Manufacturing jobs will go where there is (cheap) energy/power, Inhofe said. This is also what Congressman Sensenbrenner talked about at his Town Hall Meeting when he called Cap-and-Trade "Catastrophic for Wisconsin". I would add that manufacturing jobs will also go where environmental regulations are more lax.
Senator Inhofe suggested people take a look at Liberman-Warner Opposition Resource Center; Impacts of Costly Climate Bill Exposed It is chock full of quotes, links and articles.
The Senate is debating this bill this week. While some say the bill will not pass, as you know, once the foot is in the door, the issue will not go away. Considering all 3 Presidential candidates support the concept of Global Warming, I would just say, the bill probably won't pass...yet.
Our Senators' response to my emails: Not much hope of a NO vote here--unless they feel the heat from constituents.
This is important! Please contact them both: Senator Kohl (Phone: (414) 297-4451, (202) 224-5653) and Senator Feingold (Office
of Senator Russ Feingold | 202/224-5323) and let them know what you think about this bill.
More reading:
George Will's Cap-And-Trade: A Devious Tax Plan
Good chart of key players and terms explained at end: Senate taking up key climate-change bill
The Heritage Foundation's Morning Bell: Carbon Capping in Bizarro World
Links:
Brookfield7,
Fairly Conservative,
Betterbrookfield,
Mark Levin , Vicki Mckenna
