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The Price of Change: Cap-and-Trade and Obama's Vision of Expensive Energy

Submitted by ddemilo on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 12:01
in

With his speech to Congress, and his subsequent radio address, this President's modus operandi is now clear. He makes agreeable noises, language inoffensive to all, then pushes bills through Congress that are full of controversy, and that in some cases, contradict his spoken intentions.

In his speech to Congress, he said he would cap carbon emissions. He did NOT utter the magic words "cap and trade." But we see that is precisely what he intends to do, and I wonder if the public, lulled and hypnotized by his rhetoric and winsome smile, will pay attention to his actions before their first Obama electric bill arrives in the mail.

Here's the deal: Government experts tell you (individual or corporation) how much carbon you can consume. You pay fines to Uncle Sam if you exceed the limits. Uncle Sam then distributes the fines to the middle class and the poor (or in the vernacular of the Obama White House, "the vulnerable") to help them pay for the higher energy costs that Cap and Trade created in the first place. Meanwhile, those who invest in creating energy exchanges, like Al Gore, will get rich off the trades, and the government creates a new "revenue stream" (i.e., tax). In his speech to Congress, Obama told us that he will see to it that renewable energy becomes more affordable. He didn't say that he would do so by driving up the cost of oil, coal and gas generated energy. But that is exactly what he is proposing, and it is consistent with the thinking of the Earth First / No-Growth crowd, who would have us canning beats for the winter rather than buying avocados from California. It all makes you wonder how far he wants to take the extremist environmental agenda. Really, it should come as no surprise for those of us who raised an eyebrow last summer when he was asked how he felt about $4/gallon gas, and responded that it was a shame only that the price went up to fast. See the video...

 

 

Have we ever concocted such a disruptive solution to a problem that may not even exist?

 

 

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yes. A Great Leap Forward springs to mind

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 12:17.

AFTER THE SPARROWS!!!!

now, when you've stopped asking stupid questions, i can tell you how you can produce your own electricity and get paid for it! ain't that fun? best of all, you don't need to have oil in your backyard (them things 're noisy)

Leaps

Submitted by ddemilo on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 14:22.

Yes, Great Leap Forward did wonders for another large country. But apart from Maoist programs, I suppose I could pay $25K for solar panels on my home to eliminate a $150/month electric bill, and collect my stingy tax credit in the process. Not an option for most people.

that's a thirteen year payoff.

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 15:03.

not bad, if you're going to live there for twenty to thirty.

but the fun thing is that you can actually get paid for whatever you give back to the grid. So maybe double your coverage, and you get that payoff down to about 8 years.

Starting to sound better, eh?

Not

Submitted by ddemilo on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 15:10.

Sure, borrow 40K? With falling home values, tighter credit, which will prevail for the rest of O's term, people can't borrow the money to do it! I've been looking at solar for years and can't make the numbers work, and O's stingy tax credit doesn't help much. It's a token.

Until people start getting back equity in their homes, home solar isn't going to happen. He should be focusing on fixing that problem first.

I actually don't want to see equity going back into the homes

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 15:24.

they were already unaffordable.

Give it a few years, give up cable (or internet) or your second car, and you can afford to Not Take A Loan. ;-)

I am far far more worried about tighter credit (particularly credit cards) than I am about home equity.

It isn't coming back any time soon (the equity I mean), and that's what the free market has to say.

If you're interested in reducing your electric bill -- get on the phone to your local college and hire an engineering grad student. I'm sure they can come up with cheaper ways to lower your bill -- and they work cheap!

If you can bust something that is $150 a month down to something that is $100 a month, that's a third off. Now, I don't know where you live, but I do have some suggestions... swamp coolers, room air conditioners (no need to cool the whole house), turning the heat off while you sleep ($50 for some Polartec to make blankets from -- heck of a lot cheaper than the alternative). Just off the top of my head.

...and btw

Submitted by ddemilo on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 15:20.

If you think an 8-year ROI is a good investment, check out Citibank stock. Get it down to 4-5 and people may buy, with enough equity in their homes.

people buy all sorts of dippy things that aren't a good

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 15:26.

investment. Like cars. or anything past a certain distance out from the city (say fifteen miles), that doesn't come preequipped with cow manure (humor: I mean buying a farm is fine. buying an exurban house? nucking futz).

It's only eight years if you go with the current price of oil/coal etc. we may be in for a long term depression, in which case that's a good assumption -- but then you should expect the price for solar to nosedive.

In the Great Depression, necessities were dear and luxuries were cheap.

Cap & Tax For Revenue, Not Climate

Submitted by C3H_Editor on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 19:22.

Obviously, the Obama administration views their "cap & tax" program as a revenue producer, not a climate saver. The same goes for corporations like GE, which has jumped on the bandwagon. Does anyone really think GE executives are worried about the climate?

Note: GE, just like Enron, has no principles other than to maximize its profits at the expense of the consumer's wallet. (Personally, I buy nothing GE, and refuse to watch NBC & MSNBC because of their blatant Obama support during campaign. It certainly would appear they are about to get their payoff now from Obama with his pushing the "cap & tax.")

The administration knows that a warming "climate crisis" really does not exist. Anyone who reviews actual empirical data and is willing to listen to scientists who hold a skeptical view of a human-caused climate crisis, will come to conclusion that the "cap & tax" is nothing more than revenue potential for politicians and corporate special interests.

Just to embellish that last point, here are charts with empirical data (focus on first 8 charts) that belies the "climate crisis":

www.c3headlines.com/chartsimages.html

To read quotes from skeptical scientists, go here:

www.c3headlines.com/quotes-from-global-warming-critics-skeptics-sceptics.html

Between the data and scientific experts, it's pretty obvious this CO2-crisis has been manufactured for political and revenue reasons.

C3H Editor, www.c3headlines.com 

WE NEED TO INVEST IN AMERICA!

Submitted by beyondgreen on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 20:17.

We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources.OPEC will continue to cut production until they achieve their desired 80-100. per barrel. The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. Oil is finite. We are using oil globally at the rate of 2X faster than new oil is being discovered. We need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail ourselves out of our dependence on foreign oil. There could be no better investment in America than to invest in energy independence. Create cheap clean energy, create millions of badly needed new jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil all in one fell swoop!  Jeff Wilson has a really good new book out called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now. He explores our uses of oil besides gasoline, our depletion, out reserves and stores as well as viable options to replace oil.Oil is finite, it will run out in the not too distant future. WE need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail America out of it's dependence on foreign oil. The historic high price of gas this past year did serious damage to our economy and society. WE should never allow others to have that much power over our economy again.  I wish every member of congress would read this book too! www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com