Warren Buffett, the world's richest man and a vocal supporter of Barack Obama, thinks the pending cap and trade legislation would further stunt economic growth.
BECKY: You said you didn't like cap and trade especially in this economy though, because it puts a tax on people.
BUFFETT:
I think if you get into the way it was written, it's a huge tax and
there's no sense calling it anything else. I mean, it is a tax. And
it's a fairly regressive tax. If we buy permits, essentially, at our
utilities, that goes right into the bills of the utility customers and
an awful lot of people in Iowa, in Oregon, and Utah, and places where
we are, very poor people are going to pay a lot more money for
electricity. So I think that can be improved.
Buffett also stated that the U.S. economy is in "shambles," adding, "Everything that I see about the economy is that we've had no bounce. The financial system was really where the crisis was last September and
October, and that's been surmounted and that's enormously important.
But in terms of the economy coming back, it takes a while." Read the full transcript of Buffett's interview with CNBC and share it with your friends and neighbors.
Note too that the House of Representatives is set to vote on cap and trade before the week's end. If you'd like to call your representative and ask them to please vote against this energy tax at a time when the economy is already weak, you can access the phone numbers you need via Congress' website.
For a simple explanation of cap and trade, head to our archives and read Jimmie Bise's post from March. It's every bit as valuable today as it was then.