A Mad Hatter’s Summer of Events
Written by Audrie Zettick on July 13, 2009
Like Alice at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, taxpayers have recently been assaulted with many wish-it-weren’t-for-real events that make me watch for the white rabbit. It’s been a Wonderland of events and characters. Among them:
Queen of Hearts: Nancy Pelosi. Politico recounts how she “whipped” together the votes for Cap and Trade, replacing “off with their heads” with dogged, in-your-face (and perhaps other body parts) persistence. Worried more about her reputation than the content of the bill, witnesses recounted that she and her sidekicks even surrounded one holdout–Rep. Joe Baca–who then (surprise!) voted in favor of Cap and Trade. No wonder Congressman Ciro Rodriguez sprinted like a rabbit out of the House chamber after surprising Pelosi with a “no” vote.
The Card-Deck Queen’s Men–The eight Republican Congressmen–called jellyfish by Deroy Murdock but who more resemble the cowed cards–who enabled the House to pass Cap and Tax. They fell flat on their faces when the Queen appeared, but these Congressmen plus others in vulnerable districts will be trying to paint the roses red as they attempt to cover up their mistakes.
Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Even More Dum: Some of my home state Congressmen who voted for Cap and Trade in spite of the fact that PA gets a majority of its electricity from coal (great editorial here). It’s been estimated that Pennsylvanians will see over a $3,000 hike in annual electricity fees. Here’s an estimated impact by Congressional District.
The Caucus Race (click here if you don’t remember this part of the story), represented by the G8 and especially India and China on climate change. In Alice’s story, the animals, led on by the DoDo, have a nonsensical race ending in everyone getting meaningless prizes, with Alice finding her own prize, which she gives to DoDo who presents it back to her. Yeah, we may be a high consumption society, but it’s our economy and innovations that have given much of the world the freedoms and standards of living that have grown from development. Having the U.S. commit to harsher standards while India and China go nearly full speed ahead with development is an absurd gesture. Maybe we should all ride bicycles like they do in China.
Plus, even though Climate Change Happens, even THINKING that anything we do will make any meaningful impact on Global climate change is the absurdest gesture of all. The G8 nations committed to limiting global warming (by reducing carbon emissions) to no more than two degrees. A large volcanic explosion could do just that and more (will they claim success?). A closer look at Climate Change science and models shows that all the pain caused to our economy by legislation like Cap and Trade is much greater than the impact on the environment.
The Dodo: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. He is emphatic that global warming is a bigger threat to America than terrorism. Enough said.
Cheshire Cat: played by Obama. I considered casting him as the White Rabbit, since you can argue that the American public followed him down the rabbit hole. The Cheshire Cat might be more appropriate, as this character appears to be wise, yet Alice never knows if the cat is really steering her wrong.
Recent White House policy on Iran was every bit as perplexing as anything the Cheshire Cat said to Alice. In spite of the recent election-sparked violence in Iran, Iranian officials were originally invited to our July 4 celebration–first time they’ve been invited since the Iranian Revolution. Then they were disinvited. Of course, this was after it was clear they weren’t intending to show up anyway. In Wonderland, this all makes perfect sense.
And proposed health care reform that claims to allow that we keep private insurance while all but ensuring disappearance of private plans is, well, perfectly sensible too.
Czar of Czars: Obama. Maybe we need a remake of Wonderland, featuring the Czar of Czars instead of the Queen of Hearts. ”With President Obama, the CZAR business has not only picked up.. It has been put on Steroids, Human Growth Hormones, Protein Shakes, Speed, and Epinephrine Shots.” Motley Fool
“Drink Me” potion: Alas, we the American people are at fault, willing to drink whatever comes our way if it looks to benefit us, darn the consequences. Growth of Big Government is the result. As Robert Samuelson recently noted: “Without anyone much noticing, our national government is on the verge of a permanent expansion that would endure long after the present economic crisis has (presumably) passed and that would exceed anything ever experienced in peacetime.”
Time to pull ourselves out of the Rabbit hole with a dose of reality. I wish I’d wake up.
Posted in: Federal Spending, Uncategorized, economy, policy
Cap and Tax: Need Truth in Polling
Written by Audrie Zettick on June 25, 2009
Nancy Pelosi is leading the charge to get Democrats in Congress to rush passage of H.R. 2454–The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009-before they jet back to their districts. Let not wisdom, deliberate debate and growing public opposition stand in the way of their July vacation (and increase in their carbon footprint).
When asked innocuous questions like “do you support government regulation to reduce greenhouse gases from cars and factories,” three-quarters of Americans purportedly agree. Heck, I do when worded that way. Some members of my family have asthma–we’re sensitive to air pollution and stay inside on “ozone action days.”
When polls go on to ask pesky things such as if they’d be willing to pay more for electricity in order to reduce carbon emissions, support for Cap and Trade drops to 52%.
Of course you have to consider that in May, polls showed few people–24% of voters– even knew what cap and trade was.
Imagine if the full truth were asked. Such as if each poll respondent had to complete this estimate of the personal impact of Cap and Trade. Or if estimates for outlying years were considered (after 2012). The bill’s been watered down to minimize impact in the early years, to gain moderate Democrat support. But when you begin to estimate costs beyond 2012, the financial impact is more pronounced.
American taxpayers better gird their loins for a major change in lifestyle, if Cap and Tax passes. The Tax Foundation notes that “Lawmakers weighing the costs and benefits of climate policy should be aware that cap and trade would impose a significant and regressive annual burden on U.S. households.” With many households just getting by financially, and with the future tax burden of the bailouts on the horizon, this is ill advised.
My main concern is with the broad impact of vastly higher electricity and gas prices. President Obama has himself admitted that “electricity costs will skyrocket” under cap and trade. See video.
I can envision school taxes rising as districts deal with increased energy costs–for buildings, busing and food. I know my food bill will rise, impacted by increased energy costs for production.
The Wall Street Journal today refutes the fictional estimates recently released by the CBO. The Heritage Foundation estimates that cap and trade will cost American families $3,000 per year.
Here’s a better–and more accurate– poll question:
“Would you support an increase in your electricity, gas, school taxes, food items, clothing and general living expenses in order to cap carbon emissions?”
Or perhaps “If your costs go up $3,000 per year, what will you give up first: vacation, braces for your kids, date nights with your spouse, dental work, home renovations, car or electronics purchases.”
Now THAT would make for interesting poll results.
