Hidden Places

I've had several requests in email to explain what cap & trade really REALLY means in terms of your wallet.

I've a quick synopsis....

The constraints posed by the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade approach is equivalent to a constant (in percentage terms) consumption decrease of about 1% each year, continuing to 2050. Put another way, the cap-and-trade approach is the equivalent of a permanent tax increase for the average American household, which was estimated to be $1,100 in 2008, would rise to $1,437 by 2015, to $1,979 in 2030, and $2,979 in 2050.

The price for energy paid by the American consumer also will rise. The studies reviewed showed electricity prices jumping 5-15% by 2015, natural gas prices up 12-50% by 2015, and gasoline prices up 9-145% by 2015. As an illustration, gasoline would suffer a 16 cent price increase per gallon at the low end of the estimates to a $2.58 penalty at the high end (using the January 2009 reported retail price of $1.78 per gallon).

What it also does is lower our GDP each and every year.

It will cost us somewhere around 2 million jobs in the first few years by making sure that manufacturers go elsewhere. Like China or Brazil, which they are already doing. It will cripple us... forever.

The devil is also in the details here... for instance, you will no longer be able to get your appliances repaired: you will have to purchase new, energy-efficient ones. What does that mean to your pocketbook? A typical dishwasher now costs $175... an energy-efficient approved model will cost you roughly $1000.

Got a hot tub? It falls into this category as well.. you will need to replace yours. Also your water dispenser, if you have one. Same with your refrigerator. The list is mind-numbingly large and all-invasive.

Do cap & trade programs work? As far as lowering emissions, no. Countries that now have cap & trade programs actually have an INCREASE in emissions. As far as economically? Nope.. Australia, for instance, is now dismantling thier program because of the massive devastation it has done to thier economy.

This is the single largest tax levied on the American people in the history of the United States.

Another irony is that 15% of the revenues generated by this is going to be sent to India and China... as an incentive to those countries to develope thier own emissions programs. Yea, China's going to jump on that... lol.

It is also structured exactly like the boiling frog fable... a nice and steady tightning of the clamps from now until 2050.

If this passes, we need to either have a rather large tea party... or just cave and tell our children sorry, you're screwed. Forever.