CA: The green girlie-man - Schwarzenegger's 'solution' to global warming would destroy the economy

"We're all Keynesians now," declared President Richard M. Nixon when he surrendered his fiscal policies to liberal orthodoxy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did much the same with his recent executive order calling for draconian cuts in the emission of "greenhouse gases" linked to global warming. "The debate is over," he claimed.

The issue of global warming, though presented as a matter of scientific certainty, is actually highly controverted. Although the planet almost certainly is warming, how much of that is due to humanity - which contributes only about 0.3 percent of total greenhouse gases - remains in dispute.

Kyoto's original objective, to hold energy consumption at 1990 levels, is well-nigh unattainable. Even a dozen European nations that once championed Kyoto now concede that they will fall short.

Energy is the economy's blood. Radical reductions in energy consumption through high energy taxes and draconian appliance, auto, construction and other regulations would mean radical reductions in economic activity.

Total output would take a huge hit. Cost estimates have ranged up to $350 billion annually. Eugene Trisko of the United Mineworkers of America warned that "most credible estimates of the costs of reducing carbon emissions in the U.S. show cumulative GDP losses of up to $1 trillion to $3 trillion over a 15- or 20-year period."

Employment loss, too, would be high. For instance, an early study by Wilbur Steger and Frederick Rueter for CONSAD Research Corp. predicted 240,000 to 360,000 jobs would be lost in the first three to five years after Kyoto's implementation. Within a few more years, job loss could top 1.6 million, with several more million jobs at risk in "vulnerable industries."

More of that quote:

"Today, California will be a leader in the fight against global warming . . . I say the debate is over. We know the science, we see the threat and we know the time for action is now. Global warming, pollution and the burning of fossil fuels that caused it are threats we see here in California and everywhere around the world . . . We have no choice but to meet this challenge."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking at World Environment Day
San Francisco City Hall, June 1, 2005

Sources: San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press

Here's is a link to and snips from another informative article:

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/story/8122995p-9055102c.html

• She is nearly always at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's side, a dark-haired wire of energy who, like the governor, arrived in Sacramento by way of Hollywood. Officially, Bonnie Reiss is a senior adviser. In truth, the former entertainment lawyer, accountant and producer is one of the governor's most trusted aides and one of his wife's closest friends.

• Reiss treasures her relationship with Shriver, whom she met as an intern in the office of Shriver's uncle Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. The two women traveled together campaigning for Kennedy during his 1980 presidential bid and wound up in Los Angeles where Shriver met up with Schwarzenegger, whom she had recently begun to date. "They're my family and he's my brother in every sense of the word," said Reiss, who did a reading at the couple's wedding.

• Reiss was bitten by the Hollywood bug. After graduating from Antioch Law School in Washington, she moved to Los Angeles and opened a practice providing personal and legal services to young actors. But she found more fulfillment working for political causes -- including women's, environmental and civil rights issues -- and closed her practice to work with nonprofits.

• She was one of the founders with Barbra Streisand and others of the Hollywood Women's Political Committee, which raised money for Democratic U.S. Senate races.

• Reiss was also a founder of the Earth Communications Office (ECO) in 1988, where she led the effort to increase the entertainment industry's awareness of environmental issues and promote recycling. "Friends of mine, Ron Howard and Brian Glazer of Imagine Entertainment, gave me free office space at their company," recalled Reiss, who got another close friend, actor Tom Cruise, to sit on her board of directors.

• Maslansky said Reiss continues to have a hand in national politics. "Howard Dean, when he was beginning to think about running for president, one of the first people he called was Bonnie," Maslansky said. "She has relationships like that with other candidates."

• In 1992, Reiss helped producers Harry Thomason and his wife, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, provide entertainment for Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration.

Why are gas prices so high and the economy tanking? Gee... let’s look at Arnold’s “accomplishments,” shall we?

• greenhouse gas caps
• restrictions on out-of-state power purchases
• hydrogen highway
• million solar roof initiative
• green building initiative
• low carbon fuel standard
• tailpipe emission standard
• limiting massive amounts of land to public use
• no-fishing zones
• ocean action plan
• ??

I know I missed some.

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