Here comes the Climate Security Act of 2008
Just read this from Gary Bauer (
ouramericanvalues.org)
Senate To Raise Gas Prices?I wonder how many Americans are eager to pay $5.00 a gallon for gas? Believe it or not, while gas prices continue to creep up, the United States Senate is in the middle of a debate on a mammoth piece of legislation that would increase your pain at the pump and increase prices on just about everything you buy. The Climate Security Act of 2008, now pending in the Senate, would be the biggest restructuring of the American economy since the New Deal era of the 1930s. It is also expected to generate an excess of
$3 trillion in new revenues for the federal bureaucracy by imposing a “cap and trade” scheme on the economy. Henceforth, carbon will essentially be taxed in order to force our economy to develop “greener” production options. If a corporation needs to exceed its carbon cap, it can buy carbon allowances. In short, companies could buy “indulgences” from the government for the “sin” of capitalism. The costs, of course, would be passed on to you and me through higher prices on everything.
According to the Wall Street Journal, however, over $800 billion of the $3 trillion in expected revenue is being reserved for “relief” to low-income taxpayers to help mitigate higher costs mandated by the legislation. There’s $500 billion in corporate welfare and subsidies to help businesses adjust, and there’s also $350 billion set aside for foreign aid. And get this: The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the bill could reduce America’s gross domestic product between $1 trillion and $3 trillion, increase home utility bills by 44% and raise gas prices by as much as $1.40 per gallon.
All of this is being proposed to combat global warming, a theory that has taken a few hits recently. Conservatives want a clean environment too, but many of us are skeptical of ideological pseudo-science that proposes, as its solution, a massive government-mandated restructuring plan that could wreak havoc on the greatest economy the world has ever known. More often than not, government mandates end up making more problems than they solve. The track record of mandates and command economies is miserable, yet some politicians think bigger government and higher taxes are the solution to the world’s perceived weather woes. This bill is precisely what I and others have warned about – global warming has become the latest in a long line of fashionable causes seized upon by the Left to remake America in its image. The Climate Security Act of 2008 would be more suitably named the Economic Strangulation Act of 2008.
“Our Own Oil Cartel”Terry Jeffery, editor of the Cybercast News Service, has a brilliant column today entitled “Our Own Oil Cartel.” Here’s the gist of his article:
“Contemplate this the next time you spend $60 or more filling up your tiny little car with gasoline made from imported oil: The U.S. government knows where it can get its hands on more untapped petroleum than exists in the proven reserves of Iran or Iraq, which have 136 billion barrels and 115 billion barrels, respectively. …So, where is all this oil? And why aren’t they pumping it? …What insidious power is stifling the free market for this vital commodity and thus threatening the vitality of our economy?”
As Jeffrey rightly observers, it’s us! “It is our oil that sits untapped beneath our deserts, our forests, our swamps, and our oceans. It is our politicians – the ones we freely elected, and re-elected, and re-elected – who are not allowing our oil to be drilled by us and sold to us.” How much oil? According to the Department of the Interior’s Mineral Management Service, 86 billion barrels of oil are locked in the Outer Continental Shelf, off the coasts of America. In recent weeks, the Bureau of Land Management stated that another 53 billion barrels are available on land. That’s 139 billion barrels of oil at our disposal – more than Russia (60 billion barrels), more than Venezuela (80 billion barrels), more than Kuwait (101 billion barrels). But liberal politicians would rather ban its use and force our dependence on hostile regimes than spur a new wave of job growth and investment by tapping this vast national resource. Until we understand that energy security is economic security and national security, nothing is likely to change. You can read Mr. Jeffrey’s column online at
www.cnsnews.com.
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