A real “Inconvenient truth” about cap-and-trade

WASHINGTON – By now we’ve all read the news. The United States House of Representatives has passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, by a razor-thin 219-212 margin on June 26. The emergence of an American cap-and-trade policy now rests in the hands of the Senate.

I only hope the Senate takes the time to read and address what the majority of the House had not – the 341 pages of amendments that were added at 3 a.m. the morning of the vote.

At least one member attempted to oust this sneak attack. House Minority leader John BoehnerJohn Boehner pleaded with his colleges for an hour prior to the vote, but with little success. What did Rep. Boehner see that so many other Americans can’t?

President Obama’s energy “policy” is an absolute energy tax hidden behind a left wing supported fear in global warming and the demise of Earth, oh no! Not to trample over Al GoreAl Gore’s “inconvenient truth” but here’s a conveniently ignored fact: Earth’s temperature has flat lined since 2001 despite our increase in CO2 emissions.

You would think that this fact would not be ignored. It wasn’t, well not quite. The legislation did include a 98 page EPA study on climate change, which suggested that global temperatures are actually going to decline until 2030, but 219 members of the House, including eight Republicans, seemed to ignore this fact. Maybe it was difficult enough reading the other 1,402 pages of the bill.

Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts stressed that the bill is “the most important energy and environmental legislation in the history of our country,” and that it “sets a new course for our country.”

I couldn’t agree more with his statement, but I do disagree with his assessment that cap-and-trade is a positive for America. Yes, it is the most important legislation of its kind because, if passed, it will instill even more government say so into our lives. It will force energy providers to pay higher taxes, which intern falls to the lowest bidder, you. Higher taxes for industry mean high payments for consumers.

Let’s take a lesson from the European countries Obama wants us to emulate, who are now running in the opposite direction of cap-and-trade.

Since cap-and-trade, Germany has been able to cut emissions by 18% to below 1990 levels; however half of that is attributed to the lull in production from German industry. German homeowners now pay 25% more for their electricity even though, despite a decrease in production, their utility companies earn record profits. Homeowners are paying more for less service then before.

Democrats claim this is not a cap-and-trade bill even though Obama himself has admitted that “under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily sky rocket.”

In the end, it all comes down to common sense, which though Americans might have, congress does not. If we’re already strapped for spending, do we really want to sit idly by while something we all use like electricity is costing us 25% more than it does now?

The bill is simply this, a “gate way” bill, and the government will use it as justification to regulate every industry, product and every part of your life they can get their hands on. There are many to gain from this bill. Nancy PelosiNancy Pelosi has between $50,000 and $100,000 invested in Clean Energy Fuels Corporation and the man who wrote the bill, Rep. Edward MarkeyRep. Edward Markey has close to $115,000 invested in the First Hand Technology Value Fund, both sit to gain from a cap-and-trade system.

While we are busy striving toward socialism, the rest of the world is running away from it because they’ve tried it and, guess what, it doesn’t work. There is only one loser in this and that loser is you.