Cap & Trade Plus 8: Eight reasons you should fear cap-and-trade

              Henry Waxman (D-CA) / AP Photo

If you were able to peel yourself away from the stunning episode of John and Kate Plus 8 this week, you’re aware that cap-and-trade legislation has made its way through the House via Henry ‘Nostrildamus’ Waxman and company. Maybe Democrats saw the untimely demise of the couple’s tantalizing relationship as an opportunity to push this policy through. More likely is the fact that Democrats recognize that most Americans don’t realize the dangers inherent in cap-and-trade policies.

What exactly is cap and trade? Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally. Companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2.

But, there are some things that proponents hope you don’t know:

1. Anthropogenic warming does not exist. As cap-and-trade is premised upon curbing global warming, it’s preposterous to enact such economically crippling legislation while an increasing number of scientists are concluding that man cannot materially control climate. Further, it isn’t incumbent upon those who don’t buy into anthropogenic warming to prove its absence. As with any proposed change to the status quo, the proponent of change must definitively resolve its foundational premise before proposing any solution. There is no “consensus” that man is affecting climate. There isn’t even a consensus that the planet is warming. So, any debate over the effectiveness of cap-and-trade is superfluous unless anthropogenic warming is proven.

2. A global problem cannot be solved through action by a single country. A reduction in the carbon output by the United States will be neutralized by an increase in carbon production from the rest of the world. It’s as if we’re yelling at the guy in the front seat to put out his cigarette while the guys in the back seat have a cigar party.

3. Industries will simply relocate to non-regulated countries. Without a global solution, cap-and-trade legislation exclusive to the United States is essentially begging industries to leave, taking the jobs and revenue they generate with them.

4. For every “green job” created, cap and trade destroys 2 manufacturing jobs. Actually, Dr. Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at Juan Carlos University in Madrid and author of a new study, said the United States should expect worse. Calzada writes: “Spain’s experience reveals with high confidence, by two different methods, that the U.S. should expect a loss of at least 2.2 jobs on average, or about 9 jobs lost for every 4 created, to which we have to add those jobs that non-subsidized investments with the same resources would have created.”

5. The economic impact on individual families will be substantial. When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman’s bill, it found cap-and-trade would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill's restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.

6. Europe is a dead guinea pig. Cap-and-trade has been tried, and it has served to economically damage families in Europe. Britain's Taxpayer Alliance estimates the average family there is paying nearly $1,300 a year in green taxes for carbon-cutting programs in effect only a few years.

7. It’s the economy, stupid. With unemployment on the rise in the midst of a recession, how timely could the most crippling tax-based policy in our history be? The hike in energy costs will undoubtedly yield an increase in the price of goods from food to household items. Decline in consumer spending will result in the exacerbation of an already troubling unemployment rate.

8. Cap-and-trade opens the door for individual regulation. The huge step taken by cap-and-trade legislation is that it enables government to punish in the interest of global warming prevention. Is your home green? No? Fix it or pay. Are your shoes biodegradable? No? Wear sandals or pay. Clearly, these scenarios seem implausible, but so did cap-and-trade 30 years ago when the cover of Time Magazine read: “Global Cooling.”

Contact your Senators:

Maryland – Mikulski: (202) 224-4654
Maryland – Cardin: 202-224-4524

Delaware – Carper: (202) 224-2441
Delaware –Kaufman: (202) 224-5042

Pennsylvania – Casey: (202) 224-6324
Pennsylvania – Specter: (202) 224-4254

Virginia – Warner: (202) 224-2023
Virginia – Webb: (202) 224-4024
 

For more info: www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/tst062609a.cfm