Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 02/18/2009 1:57:29 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
When the housing bubble burst, it exposed an unseemly alliance between special interests and the financial sector. Activists wanted homes for all at any cost, and lenders were happy to oblige despite the inherent risk. Although the economic devastation this bubble wrought is still not under control, a similar toxic alliance is working on the next one: The green bubble.
Failing companies such as AIG, General Electric and General Motors, already propped up with tax dollars, have partnered with radical environmentalists in a scheme their CEOs believe will allow them to profit on fears about global warming.
Corporate members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a coalition of over 30 businesses and environmental groups urging federal regulation to combat global warming, hope to make money through a government-mandated reduction in greenhouse gases system called a “cap-and-trade.”
Emissions such as carbon dioxide would be capped, and companies using more emissions than allotted by the government must purchase credits from other businesses.
USCAP and its cap-and-trade agenda were the focus of a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on January 15 — the committee’s first since the more radical Rep.Henry Waxman, D-CA, ousted longtime chairman, Rep. John Dingell, D-MI.
Companies hope to profit from selling their excess emissions credits to businesses with high carbon dioxide emissions, such as coal-based utilities. Companies burdened with purchasing these credits will then pass the added costs to consumers.
Banking on cap-and-trade exposes the myopic vision of these CEOs.
Just as banking CEOs thought real estate prices could only go up, USCAP-affiliated CEOs apparently see scant risk in high energy prices and a massive new bureaucracy. CEOs also think they are building alliances, while their environmentalist “partners” undermine our fossil fuel-based economy.
In reality, cap-and-trade would unleash a series of adverse economic consequences and hardships on the American people:
* A study by the National Association of Manufacturers projected that emissions caps similar to those rejected by the U.S. Senate in 2008 — calling for a 63 percent cut in emissions by 2050 — would reduce U.S. gross domestic product by up to $269 billion and cost 850,000 jobs by 2014.
* A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study concluded cap-and-trade restrictions could raise gasoline prices by 29 percent, electricity prices by 55 percent and natural gas prices by 15 percent by 2015.
* A 2007 report by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office on the cost of cutting carbon emissions by just 15 percent noted that Americans “would face persistently higher prices for products such as electricity and gasoline. Those price increases would be regressive in that poorer households would bear a larger burden relative to their income than wealthier households would.”
These CEOs don’t seem to realize the impact of cap-and-trade could have on their own companies. At the 2007 shareholder meeting of USCAP member Caterpillar, the world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, CEO James Owens confessed he had not conducted a cost-benefit analysis of emissions regulation on his business. If he had, Owens would have learned that cap-and-trade would specifically harm the coal industry — a key Caterpillar customer.
ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva has also turned a blind eye to the long-term. Under cap and trade, his company’s investment in Canadian oil sands, which release about three times the amount more carbon dioxide than traditional oil, would become more costly.
Furthermore, the Natural Resources Defense Council, a USCAP partner, is currently taking legal action to block the processing of oil sands at a ConocoPhillips refinery.
As cap-and-trade policy raises prices and reduces jobs, America will slip further into economic chaos. Our economy, already reeling from the bursting of one corporate bubble, can’t afford another one.
“He will sell you the rope...”
It’s endlessly amazing to me how many different ways the Left can repackage socialism and sell it as a new idea.
Obama is a stooge for the Saudis. They want us to be energy serfs while they flood Muslims into the USA. We have four times the Saudis oil reserves in the lower 48 states onshore in shale oil, coal diesel and oil in ND and other places.
The Democrats are paid off by the Saudis to make everything Federal land to avoid any exploration. We could reboot our whole economy with this energy exploration.
cap and trade- another case of uber liberals getting enormously wealthy off the labors of others while producing exactly NADA ZILCH ZIP
Sounds like these companies are setting the walls of their own house on fire to save it from termites.
Been saying many times. The next boom/bust bubble will be “green energy”. And the Obamanation just threw a couple more gallons of gasoline on the fire with all the pork for green energy project in the porkulus bill. Many investors will start blindly throwing money at unproven company products with unproven business models for profitability just like the dot com bubble.
BONK!!! BUNK!!! PLINK!!!
There is no rational need for the former to be enforced ... and the latter is impossible if the former is enforced based upon the current draconian recommendations --- or any other currently foreseeable modifications of those recommendations.
Reversing CO2 emissions and expanding the economy are mutually and dramatically exclusive concepts. The only thing that expands is Big Government and the bank account of carbon credit thieves , e.g., Algore.
Thank you for the ping!
* A MIT study concluded cap-and-trade restrictions could raise gasoline prices by 29 percent, electricity prices by 55 percent and natural gas prices by 15 percent by 2015.
* A 2007 report by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office on the cost of cutting carbon emissions by just 15 percent noted that Americans “would face persistently higher prices for products such as electricity and gasoline.
Am I just being paranoid or are the above points precisely what some on the far left are hoping for?
For example, the FDA regulating tobacco.
You would think Phillp Morris would be against it because it would cost them big $$$ to comply. But the fact is they are actually it's biggest proponent.
The reason is, they know their competition (smaller cigarette companies, etc) will not be able to afford to comply (or more specific "prove they" comply) with the massive FDA regulations and they will go out of business. So the amount of $$ Phillp Morris spends to comply with the FDA will be more then made up by having their competition disappear leaving smoker with no choice but to buy PM products.
I suspect the same thing is going on with these companies and Carbon Credit. Huge GE will have no problem paying whatever they have too, but smaller appliance/electronic manufacturers will likely be put out of business
It does make one wonder.
The Democrat "No Domestic Energy Policy!"
The 1200MW power plant I work at is subject to cap and trade this year. It’s a little over $3/ton. Last year we produced 7 million tons of carbon. If we produce the same amount of power this year, it will cost over $21 million more to produce. Last year we made $30 million in profits. The corporate guy that addressed the workers in our monthly meeting said not to worry. The additional expenses will be passed on to the customers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.