Posted on 03/02/2013 10:25:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
There must be some fans of The Walking Dead at the White House and the DNC these days, because there are apparently some bad ideas which never die, no matter how many stakes you drive through them. One of these is the carbon tax, not so subtly invoked during the State of the Union address, and now making a comeback with some of the usual list of suspects in Congress. But this time it may be coming with a twist. You want your Keystone XL pipeline and all of the jobs, opportunity and energy advantages it offers? Well show us the money.
Having failed to lower the sea levels in his first term, President Obama, in the first SOTU of his second term, highlighted the need for fighting climate change and proposed an Energy Security Trust Fund to siphon off money from those who actually produce abundant and useable energy to fund alternative energy sources which constitute a rounding error in the percent of energy produced by various sources.
Two days later, Senators Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., dutifully introduced carbon tax legislation to put the nail in the coffin of those fossil fuels President Obama blamed for causing Superstorm Sandy, droughts and floods, stopping just short of a plague of locusts.
The bill would impose a $20-per-ton fee on so-called carbon polluters allegedly driving climate change.
The timing certainly is curious – assuming you slept through the last decade that is – but the national appetite for a carbon tax doesn’t seem to be there, thankfully. With the price of natural gas remaining low and availability high, combined with discoveries of increasing domestic oil deposits, people in a struggling economy can see the benefits waiting in the wings. Businesses who provide most of the jobs in the country are paying attention as well.
Manufacturing is a key driver of the Dayton-area economy and industry insiders say a carbon tax would hurt a fragile recovery.
“I just think that it’s national suicide,” said Greg Knox, CEO of Franklin-based Knox Machinery. “In talking to my customers, we’re just appalled by the fact the government would choose to consider some of this legislation in light of how many problems we have now in our economy.”
The GOP has managed to get kicked around in the polls pretty badly lately on issues from gun control to the sequester. It might be time to shift the conversation a bit and get back the high ground by focusing on something where there’s a clear majority in favor of their positions. The pipeline and opposition to any form of national carbon tax could be a couple of good places to start.
You know that's what you really want to do.
If true, we’d be better off without the pipeline.
That's what "Global Warming" and "Climate Change" are: a means to grow business on the backs of Middle Class/Productive people, which is then re-distributed to these groups (and the parasitic inner-city and Illegal Alien masses).
If CO2 is SO BAD and destroying the Planet, should it be a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY for an Elected Official to TELL A LIE?, after all it is an unnecessary release of a DEADLY GAS that is going to KILL THE PLANET right??
I agree, that's too high a price to pay for it. Let the Obunga voters pay $8 for gas for a couple of years.
The oil is going to be moved and refined by either us or China, carbon tax be damned.
since when is extortion legal?
If we accept the carbon tax gas will be at least $8 per gallon AND we lose what’s left of our freedom.
Immediate grounding of all obama Vacation and Campaign Flights.
And don't tell me, "But I'm the President of the United States!"
Never did want to hear it and don't want to hear it now.
Close down the printing presses at the mint, allow no paper, ink or power to turn on any lights. This will gum up the dear leaders plan.
In just 4 years he added 6 trillion to the debt, with out a carbon tax. What does he have to show for it? How much money does he plan on spending?
Liberals NEVER let go of their pet plans. NEVER.
‘zackly.
Let the Canuks build it to the West Coast and fill Asia’s oil needs. A world market will mean lower prices for everyone.
NO BTU Tax, Barry !
Yes. Say it again.
If true, we’d be better off without the pipeline.
The lack of a pipeline can be overcome -- inefficently, to be sure -- but doable.
A carbon tax will just further hollow out the American manufacturing sector.
ALL of the politicians in DC know that man does not control the climate. Any politician who keeps talking about man controlling the climate should be removed from Congress. They are steadily lying and should be removed.
Dah-yum! Such a deal!
That loser is either insane, or believes we are.
"Carbon Tax..." = a tax on a fictitious commodity the largest source of which is living things breathing.
How about calling it a "Just because we can" Tax, which will expire in 2025?
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