The Unintended Consequence of “Cap and Trade”

President Obama brilliant lawyer/politician and with other liberal leaders have proposed a new plan for Capping Carbon Dioxide production and Trading Carbon Credits as mechanism to create clean air, new clean industries and reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy.

These are goals that every American can support. We join with the President in wanting success.

However, after experiencing the bums rush to pass the Stimulus Package we are fearful.

Let’s review that blur:
The Democrats in the House would not allow any Republican participation (so much for bipartisan government), they initially would not give Republican copies to read, said Republican were going to vote against it anyway so why bother giving them a copy to read”
No one reads the bill it is just to large and it passes the house.

Senate passes a slightly different version of the bill. Bill goes to conference for resolution.

Democrats tell the Republicans they could not add amendments nor changes.
Dems in conference add the Dodd amendment for allows AIG bonuses, bill comes out of committee for a vote.

No one has time to read the bill. Congress does not read the bill but votes to pass it. No republican votes for it.

The President takes 4 days to sign the bill that had to be passed without reading it because it was so critical to our economic salvation.

He uses Air Force One a 747 to take is wife to a Chicago dinner for Valentine’s Day.
Nancy Pelosi takes a government jet with her friends to Rome for a Holiday.

Upon return finds out AIG’s bonuses become public and the public is outraged.

Democrats react instinctively, They then blame BUSH and the Republican. Unfortunately Bush has been gone for a month and no Republican voted for the bill. Some habits die hard

Democrats are so outraged they swear vengeance and hunt to find who is responsible only to find out it their Senator Dodd as the one responsible. Dodd in turn points the finger at the White House and Sec of Treasury.

Democratic Leadership says: Never Mind it must be AIG’s management’s fault.

YOU CAN NOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP

To avoid a repeat of this outrage, our recommendation is slow down.

What is the rush? What did Ben Franklin say “Haste makes waste.”
In the President’s case, waste from his haste can be on a colossal scale be?

What could the unintended consequences of the President’s yet again hasty actions be?

They could be catastrophic.

One would only hope that the administration have all learned something from the stimulus package fiasco.

But like Larry the cable says “you can not fix stupid.”

Here we go again

The President’s own words during the campaign were. “that sure you can burn coal (source of about half of our electrical capacity) but we will tax it and make it so expensive that there will never be another coal plant built in America.” It is a shame because coal is our most plentiful energy resource available in the United States.

The questions that his position raises are:
What is the purpose of effectively taxing half the electrical capacity in the United States when there is no cost effective alternative available.
What is the economic impact of such a regressive tax on the working poor?
What is the impact on the information economy?
What affect does it have on economic growth?
What is the affect on every manufacture item in America?
What is the affect on inflation, thief of hard work?

More importantly:
Where/how is all this regressive tax money going to be spent?
Are we going to re institute the welfare state?
What good is $800 tax credit if your energy cost goes up $1600?
Did he not say that no one who earns under $250K would have their taxes raise?
Is it going to fund the socialist nanny society similar to France and England?

We need these answered before a vote. We need to read the fine print and get the questions resolved. We Need the INFORMATION NOW.

Now President Obama did offer clean coal as an alternative. Clean coal is only a promise at this moment and time. A Pilot plant is being constructed to test the clean coaltechnology that only exists in a lab.

Once the technology is refined, how long will it take to construct the first commercially viable clean coal plant? I think the error in the administration’ s approach is that you don’t need a tax to the deter behavior; you need a tax credit to be the incentive the correct commercial response.

Can clean coal be commercially available in less than 10 years? No one knows for sure. But for discussion sake lets say it can be.

It takes just under 10 years to build a nuclear power plant. With standard design and stream lines licensing processing that number could be reduce to perhaps 7 years.
How do you stream line the environmental litigation process over EPA issues?
Do you change the EPA laws?
Do you ban opposition?
Now that does not sound very democratic now does?
It isn’t change that you can believe in now is it?
It is the change that you learn to fear. Fear what is next.

Now let’s look at wind and solar and power grid.
The problem with wind and solar technologies are they are located far from the consumer demand for electricity.
They require extensive power grids to move their power from generation site to the consuming locations.
Environmental groups are already suing to block them
Wind turbines kill migratory birds and bats.
Bats are the natural environmental safe mosquito control.
Would the reduction in bat population killed by wind generation cause an increase in mosquito borne diseases like malaria etc.?

Do we start construction and deployment without knowing the consequences?
Do we commit the same error as we did when Congress rushed to support and subside ethanol production for clean car fuel.

The unintended consequence was the dramatic impacted food prices. Increased the cost of milk,eggs, bread and meat in the United States. It created food shortages in the third world that resulted in increase starvation and disease.

Is this the hope you voted for?

Hope for the future? YES.

Hope for today? NO

There is an “inconvenient truth” that gets in the way sort term success.

The truth is that there is not enough manufacturing capacity to meet the goals/targets that is set forth by the President. There is not enough to meet new demand yet replace the carbon generating base.

In the United States there is:
NOT enough manufacturing of the raw material to make solar cells
NOT enough fabrication equipment to make the parts for solar cells
NOT enough wind turbine manufacturing capacity
NOT enough manufacturing capacity to build the generators themselves.
NO streamline process for site selection or approval
NO environmental impact study or analysis of their affect on weather patterns.
What is the environmental impact of literally having square miles covered with solar panels?

Fact: The largest domestic installation of wind and solar technology was awarded in Long Island NY by LIPA. Not one element of the contract let was awarded to a United States based company. The entire expenditure was awarded to foreign companies.

Does it mean that an early push for these technologies will give the foreign companies a competitive advantage?
Will American tax credits only make our foreign competitors stronger.
Does it not seem to you like our AIG bailing out foreign banks with American dollars?
Are we using American tax dollars to subsidize the purchase of foreign alternate energy technology?
Are we funding the creation of green jobs in Europe and Asia and not in the USA?

America is the leader in the information age.

What fuels the information age?

It is Not PC, Not servers, Not the internet, Not HDTV, Not Direct TV, Not Google

What fuels the Information Age?
Electricity,
Cheap, Predictable, and Abundant ELECTRICITY fuels the Information Age

What other green elements are going to compete for that resource?
The administrations Electric/plug in cars.
But has anyone asked the following:
Where is the existing surplus electrical capacity that a million electric cars going demand?
Isn’t the power grid on the verge of collapse?
Is there any spare capacity?
Are they not predicting Black out and Brown outs in NJ by 2112?

It solution exists only in President Obama imagination. The plans have not been drawn.
The policy has not been thought thru.
His plan hinges on tax a finite resource via Cap and Trade.
But without available alternatives to purchase what is the result?

In Economic 101, (seems none of the President’s PhD Economic advisers teach that course anymore) limited supply great demand what do prices do?

Any college freshman would tell you PRICES RISE.
Some would call that inflation.
President Obama would call that a revenue opportunity.

Finally, the environmental question that has yet to be answered is, “what do we do in 10 years with one or two million, 1+ ton electric car batteries filled with all those heavy metals.” Don’t you think it would be nice to have the recycling strategy layout and the plant designed accepted, the pilot plant under construction before pardon the pun “we motor down that road.