Senate votes to “rein in” EPA’s regulation of carbon emissions
The above headline is a bit misleading, but, so too, are 12 Democrat, and one Republican senators. Let me explain. Read more
Posts
Why Obama doesn’t need Congress
With Obama’s recent “compromise” on not raising taxes for anyone, much has been said about the possibility that Obama, like Clinton before him, is moving to the center. He isn’t, he doesn’t have to, and he doesn’t need Congress to accomplish his agenda. Read more
“Global Warming” embezzlement
I received what follows from my engineer friend. You can’t make this stuff up. Read more
Your Friday afternoon political cartoon from Ramirez: Cap and Trade
This is pretty darn good. Of course, you had to see the original image of the cop chasing down the kid on the ball field in Philly.
The cost of “going green”
Three newspaper articles caught my eye today, on the energy front, that is.
The first, entitled Welfare Wagons, begins as follows:
Congratulations. You’re about to buy a fancy new Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt . . . for someone else.
It seems that the cost of producing an electric car is considerably higher than what most would be willing to pay for the car. So, Obama is offering a $7500 tax credit if you purchase one, and, an additional $1100 tax credit if you purchase (as you must), a charging station. That is unless you live in cash starved California, or Georgia, or Tennessee, in which case you will receive “consumer tax credits” of up to an additional $5000.
The U.S. government is deeply in debt. In people and nations with their backs to the wall, one looks for signs of rationality. Running up more debt to subsidize electric runabouts for suburbanites is not such a sign.
And, then we have this article, The Price of Wind. After nearly a decade, approvals have finally been granted for Cape Wind Associates to locate 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind will sell their “power” to National Grid, an electric utility serving Massachusetts. Cape Wind has asked state regulators to approve a rate (for that sale to National Grid) of 20.7 cents per kilowatt hour beginning in 2013, and rising 3.5% annually thereafter. Just one small problem…consumers in Massachusetts currently pay about 9 cents per kilowatt hour.
There’s comic irony in this clean energy revolution…given that taxpayers will be required to pay to build Cape Wind and then be required to buy its product at prices twice normal rates…
And finally on the energy front, Senator Lieberman (I.Ct.) and Senator Kerry (D.Ma.) introduced the Senate version of “cap and tax” today. Your electric bill will increase considerably because utility companies will be taxed by the federal government just for the priviledge of doing business, and, in turn, these companies will pass that tax on to you the consumer in the form of higher rates. But, don’t worry,
[t]he legislation would immediately send two-thirds of the revenues from emissions permit sales directly back to consumers as refunds on their utility bills…
Anyone wonder where the other one-third will go, or, better yet, why the federal government is taking the money from us in the first place?
So, for those of you living in Massachusetts, this news is a “triple wammie”. Wait a minute, I have a home in Massachusetts.
Are conservatives burnt-out after health care and recent TEA Parties?
Conservatives have had quite a bit on their plate during the first quarter of 2010. Just trying to deconstruct the the health care reform legislation was exhausting, let alone taking the time to fight passage. Now we’ve got cap-and-trade and immigration reform right around the corner.
Farms to forests – climate legislation economic impact
Another good example of how government regulation – in this case climate change legislation – can have unintended consequences, specifically higher food prices. Read more
Kondracke and Krauthammer on cap without trade – video
Timed perfectly with the start of the Copenhagen climate summit, the EPA announced an Obama administration endangerment ruling that would just skip the trade part of cap and trade if the government didn’t do something. Since Obama could not announce America would bend to environmental wackos, he brought this instead.
Estimated 2009 United States deficit now $2.2 trillion
I was Jim’s guest on the Sound Off Connecticut’s special Saturday edition as he filled in for Dunaway. I mentioned the federal government was borrowing $20 billion a week. Sorry, I messed up. As of the end of July, we’re borrowing $43 billion a week, ensuring the 2009 deficit will be $2.2 trillion. The 2003 total federal budget submitted by President Bush was $2.2 trillion.
Obama: “Not one dime” more in taxes … Update -Video
… if you make less than $250,000; or was it $208,000? Either way, President Obama assured Americans making less than the aforementioned figures would not pay “one more dime” in taxes. So why won’t Obama administration officials back up the boss?