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US House May Pass "Cap & Trade" Bill
jamie found this roundup on the status of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, which is about to be voted on by the US House of Representatives. (The article notes that if the majority Democrats can't see the 218 votes needed for passage, they will probably put off the vote.) The AP has put together a FAQ that says, "[The bill, if passed,] fundamentally will change how we use, produce and consume energy, ending the country's love affair with big gas-guzzling cars and its insatiable appetite for cheap electricity. This bill will put smaller, more efficient cars on the road, swap smokestacks for windmills and solar panels, and transform the appliances you can buy for your home." The odds-makers are giving the bill a marginal chance of passing in the House, with tougher going expected in the Senate.
Lord, protect me from those who would do me good.
Britain also taxes the hell out of gasoline, and they use a tiny fraction of the average American. Consumption taxes can be fair, logical, and effective. I know reducing consumption is anti-American, but tough shit.
Yes, and they stack up all the bodies right next to the millions who have died because of socialized medicine.
Despite what seems to be the conventional wisdom here, I think this is a great time to implement a cap and trade policy. The biggest polluting corporations in the US have had such a free ticket for the last 30 years that there's really been no incentive for them to innovate. Just look at the quality and efficiency of the cars American companies make. Also, renewable energy innovation would be just the thing to pull the US out of it's inexorable death-spiral, just as the Internet and tech boom did in the 90's.
I'm amused by Americans who think they are being "taxed to death" but have no problem spending 40 percent of their incomes for corporate profits, which despite some other conventional wisdom, does not come back to the economy.
With luck, in 20 years we may be cured of this religious fervor for "free markets" and endless growth and start living like sane people.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Obama's on record.
"Under my plan, energy prices would necessarily skyrocket."
All part of his plan to destroy America. The first shot to kill the economy and get us all dependent on his welfare/socialism plans didn't work, but isn't he lucky he left the ultimate economy-killer in reserve?
Hell, as an added bonus, he can make everyone dependent on the government even more with Carter-style gas rationing coupons (now renamed "carbon credit coupons").
Bullshit, you motherfucking liar.
Responsible energy use is an expenditure of the current generation. Anything we do, on whatever level, is "passed on" to the next generation(s). Further, every time we think we "solve" a "pollution" problem, it seems some sky-is-falling Al Gore asshat type comes along to scream about something.
Remember the automobile? It was the "savior of mankind" because it was going to get rid of pollution. Yes, get rid of pollution. What pollution? Horse piss and horse crap all over the city streets, with associated smells and bugs and the nice breeding ground it provides for nasty germs.
Future generations have the benefit of whatever we do. They also have to suffer when we fuck up. Instituting government rationing is a colossal fuckup that will among other things destroy our economy, and THAT is what will wind up being passed on to our kids.
A cap-and-trade system is not a real marketplace. What it really does is make it completely impossible for new players to enter the market and compete if they have any carbon production level to speak of. Thus what it really does is destroy any impetus, once the carbon credits have been assigned, to improve carbon efficiency. The big companies will hoard what they have, and new companies - even if they have new technology that could make things better - will receive the big "fuck you" from Obamaville. Meanwhile, America will suffer - in terms of commerce, in terms of energy prices and availability, in terms of travel. Say bye-bye to any town with a tourist economy, completely - remember how hard it was to go anywhere during the Carter gas-rationing coupon days? WELCOME BACK.
America's energy policy is bullshit, and that's not changed. The current dickwad-in-chief is currently fucking over America by claiming at once that we are "overly dependent on foreign oil" and yet at the same time refusing to lift the restrictions and blockages that he himself put in place that are preventing us from scaling up our nuclear energy program, which is the ONE alternative energy program we have that has any chance in hell of making a significant dent in it.
Now go back to sucking Obama's cock you know-nothing retard.
Oh screw you. Republicans have clearly demonstrated their policies to favor the rich and concentrate wealth. By definition concentrating wealth at the top means there is less for the middle class and the poor thus creating more poor people. The biggest trick the Republican pundits continually plays and gets away with is convincing stupid poor people that they have their best interests in mind. Sadly, intelligent people are infected by the bull shit as well.
Democrats have failed in so many ways as well, but to say that the Democrats want more poor is stupid. Historically, under Democratic leadership the country's GDP is better an run less of a deficit. Economies work better when wealth isn't concentrated because there is more people to by useless crap. But "facts" are something most people don't care about. You guys want to see Obama fail because you hate Democrats. If he succeeds, you won't change your view point to see hey, maybe the Republicans don't really have all the answers. Of course, after 8 years of an awful one, you still can't admit you were wrong.
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I am 100% behimd cap and trade. as long as you slap tarrifs on imports from China and India until they adopt it too.
Ok, so you fight it when you think it's a good idea? That's seems silly.
About all I'm saying is the U.S. needs to refrain from further destroying its economy to try save the world, while China and India destroy it anyway and break us economically while they do it.
So you are saying that we should be the whiney little 4 year old brat. "If Timmy does it, I get to do it too" even when it's bad for both.
Assuming you live in the U.S. just don't come crying to me
Where are you that I could come crying to you?
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