July 10, 2009

The Climate Bill — the Other View

The house bill is not about saving the planet, it is about enriching the power players in America. It is a 1500 page bill that no one who voted for understands. Nor do they care. If you have any doubt, search the www for H.R.2454 and read it yourself. This thing has 245,590 words of loopholes and circular logic that will turn your brain to mush in minutes.

As with everything coming out of Washington these days, it is really about enriching the insiders with money from us outsiders.

Pelosi says its about jobs, jobs, jobs. If this bill is really about creating jobs, why is there a provision to pay people for 3 years at 70% of their salary if they lose their jobs because of it? Could it be because it is expected that millions of people will be unemployed as a direct result of this legislation?

About 87% of the world’s energy production comes from fossil fuels. About 30% of that comes from coal. There is nothing in this proposed legislation that actually provides a replacement for these energy sources. What it does have is a tax on energy production that will decrease our nation’s total economic output by trillions of dollars.

Taxing carbon emissions will increase the cost of everything we purchase. Refineries will close, and our dependence on foreign oil will increase while the overall level of pollution on the planet will continue to increase because China and India aren’t about to impose this requirement on their rapidly expanding economies. China, a country that uses about 11% of the energy that the US does, is already the world’s leader in production of greenhouse gases and relies on coal for about 80% of their energy needs. India uses coal to generate about 70% of their energy.

The good news is that the new version of the money-changers, the people that trade emission capacities back and forth will be the latest generation of the American super rich which should make them responsible for paying more of Obama’s soak-the-rich taxes. For example, Al Gore has increased his net worth from $2 million to well over $100 million since 2000, all for essentially just schmoozing with the greedy players in this nasty game.

Should we be concerned about our planet? Absolutely yes! Should we respond with legislation from people who have a totally different agenda then effecting meaningful change? Absolutely not!

We have some of the most creative people on the planet. A well thought out strategy of incentives to reduce pollution from fossil fuels, reduce the total cost of producing electricity from solar and wind energy, and restarting our nuclear energy program is not beyond the capabilities of Americans. However it does appear to be beyond the capabilities of the Obama administration and this congress.

Rex A. Hoover
Sumerduck