It has to be a little redundant at this point, hammering away at the failure of an environmental/energy policy known as "cap & trade". Many people refer to it as "cap & tax", because it is the largest proposed tax hike in the history of the United States. I call it "cap & trade" because it would cap how much energy we can produce in our economy and trade away jobs to China, India, and Saudi Arabia. "Cap & trade" makes an appearance in this week's House budget perspective, because the bad proposal is moving forward thanks to some political maneuvering in the House. Let's re-examine the cost, specifically the overlooked parts:
The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision
to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program,
rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the
economy. The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost
does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product
(GDP) that could result from the cap."
The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of
cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that
Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in
electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good,
from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn
will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or
higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations
overseas, with the same result.
Essentially, we can expect not only higher energy costs from "cap & trade" if it is rammed through the United States Senate by liberals, but we can expect higher costs of almost all consumer goods. Warren Buffett, who endorsed the sitting President, has called "cap & trade" a regressive tax, but you don't hear that bit of economic analysis touted by the main stream media. As the Heritage Foundation has repeatedly pointed out , it will have a few major impacts:
It's a Massive Energy Tax
It Will Not Make a Substantive Impact on the Environment
It Will Kill Jobs