Posted on 03/19/2009 6:07:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Obama’s energy tax plan -- a version of the failed European “cap and trade” global warming fiasco -- may cost families $1,800 yearly in higher utility bills, far exceeding his promised $800 a year tax cut for 95% of Americans.
While campaigning, Obama admitted that his energy plan would cause electric bills to “skyrocket.” Few took note, perhaps because Sen. John McCain also backed some form of a “cap-and-trade” energy tax.
Obama’s official budget claims that his proposed energy tax would add $646 billion to energy costs over 8 years. But that’s low-balling it.
As the Washington Times reported:
President Obama's climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, nearly three times the White House's initial estimate of the so-called "cap-and-trade" legislation, according to Senate staffers who were briefed by the White House. . . . At the meeting, Jason Furman, a top Obama staffer, estimated that the president's cap-and-trade program could cost up to three times as much as the administration's early estimate of $646 billion over eight years.
Put another way, Furman estimates the cap-and-trade scheme will cost, on average, $250 billion annually. That estimate must be taken seriously because Furman is deputy director of Obama’s National Economic Council.
So what does this mean to everyday Americans? Let’s put those numbers into context.
Total electricity sales (business and residential combined) run about $343 billion a year (according to 2007 Department of Energy figures). Throw in our other energy expenses -- gasoline, natural gas, etc. -- and the U.S. Department of Energy estimates our total energy spending at “over $500 billion.”
So Obama’s $250-billion a year energy tax could approach a 50% increase in what you, as a consumer, pay for energy, since all costs are passed along to consumers. Yet the Obama budget audaciously claims that it will “reduce utility bills”
According to the White Fence Index, the average home utility bill is $297 per month, which is about $3,600 per year. So a 50% increase would be $1,800 per year under the Obama proposal. This far exceeds a Heritage Foundation projection of $467 a year in higher utility bills under an earlier U.S. Senate energy tax plan. That less-aggressive plan, though, could have cost 500,000 to 1 million jobs, according to Heritage. Who knows how many jobs would be lost under Obama’s more burdensome plan? The lost jobs would become “gangrene jobs,” a counter to Obama’s claim to create new “green jobs.”
The White House and Mr. Furman try to justify drastically higher energy costs by offsetting it with their plan to give 95% of American families a permanent $800 per year “Making Work Pay” tax credit. (42% of that “tax cut” would actually go to people who don’t pay any income tax.) But even with the $800 subsidy, the net loss is $1,000 per family per year.
Obama also proposes to use the new energy tax to subsidize “green energy” technologies. The idea is to replace affordable nuclear and fossil energy sources with (far more expensive) renewal energy. Replacing cheap power with expensive power will raise energy costs even above the increase attributable to Obama’s energy tax.
Obama and his allies justify it all by claiming it’s necessary to save the planet from man-made global warming, even though the Earth for many years has been cooling instead.
A recent Gallup poll found a record-high 41% of Americans now believe mainstream media exaggerate global warming dangers in their reporting. They are not alone.
The ranks of skeptics keep expanding among the experts as well. More than 800 experts who are dubious about environmental alarmism attended this month’s International Conference on Climate Change. That group so far has gathered signatures of more than 31,072 American scientists who endorse this conclusion: "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate.”
Yet President Obama and his political allies in Congress are pushing aggressively for climate change legislation as a centerpiece of their agenda.
Americans angered by the big-spending liberal bent in Washington are already organizing tea parties in protest. In addition to making teabags the symbol of protest, perhaps thermometers should be included as well. Slogans such as, “Hands Off My Guns” may be replaced by “Hands Off My Thermostat.”
Nevertheless, one major man-made threat of global warming should never be overlooked -- the quantity of hot air being emitted in Washington, DC.
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Ernest Istook calls himself a "recovering Congressman" from Oklahoma. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and chairs the National Advisory Board for Save Our Secret Ballot, www.SOSballot.org.
When Americans are shivering or sweltering in their darkened homes because they cannot afford their utility bills we may get another “change” in Washington.
TOTUS’s policies, including this one, if put into effect, will without a doubt, plunge the country, and then the world, into a severe depression.
Not that it matters, but I think McCain completely missed his one chance.
During the talks on the 700 billion bailout package - IF - he had come out and said "You know, I've talked with my constituents, and after further reflection, I just can't in good conscience, support the bill". Given the political climate at the time, IF he does that, I think that the race is at worst, a dead heat.
That was his chance to differentiate himself from Pres. Bush, and Obama. He missed it, IMHO.
Exactly! Control! Did anyone catch Beck the other day? He informed his viewers about Zero’s pick for the EPA, who just happened to belong to a socialist group. This info was, of course, cleared from the web upon her nomination. Info about her is cached and you can still find it on google. Beck and his guest were saying that they are going to CONTROL our thermostats and air conditioners in the name of GREEN. So if you run your air to high during the summer, the power to your house will be, lets see....how do I put it nicely....the power will be ADJUSTED!
Sounds a lot like control to me!
PING!
Ping Ping Ping!!!
You’re right on with this one! I fear more and more are going to chooses this route to survive, now that its “favorable” to live off the sweat of others.
Its sickening that the bulk of Zero supporters were under the age of 23 (correct me here if this figure is wrong). These bimbos & bimbettes have never been out in the real world...working, renting, buying, investing....never. They ran around and waved their little voters card now that they are of legal age....and boy! They can go back to their home and say to their parents, wow we really can make a difference when we vote. While the parents gently smile at their young adult offspring and say “Yes, you certainly did make a difference...”
Of course the parents are old school and principled. They don’t have the heart to tell their proud young adult child that by the irresponsible vote they cast, they have now lost everything, including their way of life.
Sad.
Yep. While McCain was negotiating a $700 BILLION government give away, the vast majority of Americans saw that as the biggest pork barrel bill of all time (until the zero’s came along). Opposing it as just another wasteful government project would have gone a long way in setting himself apart from the zero. For the last several weeks, his theme could have been, “Obama supported giving away $700 BILLION to companies that deserve to fail because they ran their companies in the ground. I, on the other hand, oppose and will ALWAYS oppose pork barrel spending.”
bttt
Incorrect. The "youth vote" was no more a factor in this race than in any time in the past. The bulk were life long Rats. The rest were the middle few percent that can be persuaded one way or the other based on how they "feel" about a candidate.
“Obama and his allies justify it all by claiming it’s necessary to save the planet from man-made global warming, even though the Earth for many years has been cooling instead.”
Anybody else feeling ready to bust some jaws the next time this “do whatever we want and get away with it” card is parroted by naive useful idiots?
“Yet President Obama and his political allies in Congress are pushing aggressively for climate change legislation as a centerpiece of their agenda.”
Why shouldn’t they; it gives them more control over peoples’ lives, which means more leverage in the next election.
I stand corrected. Thank you.
ROFL...it would have been even funnier with the Spock ears.
It isn't lost, but if you don't tell your kids where they screwed up, they'll do it over and over again and it will be.
Have the heart to tell them what is wrong without placing blame on them. If they have cause to squirm, they own it, and maybe they will do better next time.
Your philosophy is undying. Kudos to you!
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