Liberty Maven

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

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Quote of the Day:I love to go to Washington, if only to be near my money.
~Bob HopeSubject: Urgent danger from “cap and trade” bill in the Senate

The U.S. Senate is debating a bill to impose a “cap and trade” system on the U.S. economy. This bill, S. 3036, the “Climate Security Act” would . . .

• Place a cap on the level of CO2 emissions
• Sell permits to businesses that would allow them to emit CO2 in amounts equal to the cap
• Allow businesses to trade and/or sell these permits to each other — allegedly creating a market to encourage innovations that would reduce CO2 emissions
• Use the proceeds from the sale of these permits to create a vast new research bureaucracy designed to help corporations cope with the cap

As a practical matter, S. 3036 will . . .

• Raise your electricity and gasoline bills
• Provide politicians with new tools to control the economy, hand out favors, and punish enemies
• Be as ineffective in doing “research” as the Energy Department has been
• Probably (if the example of Europe is a reliable guide) have little impact on the over-all level of CO2 emissions

Even if you accept that human CO2 emissions are causing problematic global warming, a government run “cap and trade” system is not the way to deal with this problem. There is a better way. Here are some points to consider . . .

• Fossil fuels create massive amounts of air pollution, quite apart from CO2.
• This pollution causes massive health problems, none of which are reflected in the price of fossil fuels.
• Fossil fuels enjoy a “free ride” in terms of pollution costs that make it hard for alternative sources of energy to compete.
• Air pollution is a form of trespass, and a case can certainly be made that dealing with such trespasses is a legitimate function of government.

The federal government could do this by . . .

• Taxing fossil fuels
• Cutting other taxes so that your overall financial burden would remain unchanged

Your energy costs would rise, but your taxes would fall by an equal amount. Doing this would . . .

• Eliminate the justification for a “cap and trade” boondoggle
• Make fossil fuels reflect more of their true costs
• Provide an incentive for everyone to reduce their use of fossil fuels
• Make other sources of energy cost competitive
• Limit the financial impact on you and the economy
• Help reduce air pollution, including CO2 emissions

We know that most Americans are concerned about pollution and the environment, and for those who feel this way, a carbon tax combined with tax cuts in other areas would be a better approach. But THIS CAMPAIGN is about stopping the “cap and trade” boondoggle, because if you really care about the environment, this proposal has only symbolic value.

Please send Congress a message opposing the so-called “Climate Security Act,” and all other “cap and trade” schemes.

Thank you for being a part of our growing Downsize DC army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.