DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF SCREW YOU: CAP AND TRADE

DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF SCREW YOU: CAP AND TRADE

Embraced some years ago in Europe and a few other countries, cap and trade creates an artificial market for various industries to buy, sell, and trade allowances that permit a certain amount of carbon output.  It has long been on the wish list for American liberals and extremist environmentalists. 



OBAMA and the DEMS want to suck us all dry!



Top 10 Reasons to Oppose Cap and Trade  

1. It will raise energy costs:  While different nuanced approaches continue to surface, any analysis of any cap and trade scheme comes to the same conclusion; energy costs will go up.  The latest serious attempt to enact cap and trade in the United States, America’s Climate Security Act of 2007 sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA), serves as a good example.  An analysis of this legislation cited during a Senate hearing held by the Committee on Environment and Public Works estimated the costs to the average American household would be between $800 and $1,300 by 2015, and then increasing to $1,500 to $2,500 by 2050.
 
2. It doesn’t help the environment:  If energy costs are going to go up for Americans, shouldn’t there be significant environmental benefit and progress towards reversing climate change?  You would think so.  But even if the most aggressive of cap and trade schemes were properly adhered to, scientists that both advocate and oppose a cap and trade program widely agree that the maximum drop to the earth’s temperature would be no more than 0.07 degrees Celsius by the year 2050.  To give some sense of just how negligible this decrease would be, we cannot even estimate the absolute mean surface temperature of the earth within 0.07.  What’s worse is that cap and trade actually provides incentives to emit more carbon, not less.  An article by the Christian Science Monitor explains: “By turning carbon emissions into commodities that can be bought and sold, cap-and-trade policies could remove the stigma from producing such emissions.”  In other words, if industries understand they are working within a legal framework when they output carbon, the public pressure for them to cut down is weakened.  Evidence of this can be seen in Europe where most countries have seen carbon emissions go up, even though the European Union has had a cap and trade regime in place since 2005.   

3. It doesn’t work where it has been tried:  Speaking of Europe, let’s take a closer look at how cap and trade is fairing.  As mentioned earlier, the EU is watching carbon emission levels rise despite the fact that they have had a cap and trade system since 2005.  Furthermore, the Heartland Institute reports that 12 of the 15 EU nations taking part in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a program that sets greenhouse gas reduction targets and serves as a precursor to cap and trade, are failing to meet their reduction targets, with three going over by more than 10 percent and another three going over by more than 20 percent.  In fact, emissions for all EU countries went up on average 2.1 percent between 2000 and 2004.  Compare this with the United States where currently no such regulatory regime exists and yet emissions went up only 1.3 percent during the same time period.  Nonetheless, President Obama has announced an aggressive set of targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promising to “work expeditiously with key stakeholders and the Congress to develop an economy-wide emissions reduction program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions approximately 14 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and approximately 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.”

4. It will cost Americans jobs:  This calculation is a pretty simple one.  For U.S. industry to comply with a cap and trade scheme, they have to reduce their carbon emissions.  There are two ways to do this: (1) produce less – this obviously hurts jobs as companies would seek to streamline their workforce to compensate for a drop in production, or (2) buy carbon allowances in order to keep production up – this, too, would threaten jobs as companies would be forced to devote more internal resources to allowances, negatively effecting their bottom lines and potentially putting workers on the chopping block.  In either case, the rising costs of energy under a cap and trade system, as mentioned earlier, only add to the problem.  An analysis conducted by Charles River Associates in 2007 estimated anywhere from 1.2 million to 2.3 million jobs would be lost under a cap and trade scheme. 

5. It is in effect a hidden regressive tax:  We’ve talked about how cap and trade causes energy prices to go up.  That doesn’t just hit American industry, but American consumers as well.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) correctly notes that as these prices go up in the form of higher gasoline, heating oil, and electricity, the poor are hit hardest with what is in effect a hidden regressive tax.  President Obama promises to return revenues to vulnerable communities, families and businesses, but that leaves taxpayers at the whim of government to redistribute income rather than letting taxpayer keep their hard earned dollars.

6. It sets a dangerous precedent:  While extremist environmentalists and their liberal allies have been whining about climate change for years, most stop short of declaring cap and trade the silver-bullet solution.  Environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council are generally supportive of the concept of cap and trade.  However, as The Heritage Foundation has pointed out, these groups have found fault with actual proposals such as America’s Climate Security Act of 2007, criticizing them for not going far enough and willing only to endorse them as “a good first step.”  As much damage as a cap and trade scheme would cause in its own right, this posture by extreme environmental groups foreshadows even more draconian regulations in our future.

7. It prevents market forces from working for the environment: The market distortions imposed by a cap and trade system would be significant.  Recently, major energy companies such as ExxonMobil and Shell have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in technologies that capture and store carbon as well as lower carbon alternative energy sources.  A cap and trade system however, sets up perverse incentives that will distract these and other companies from market-based solutions to curb carbon output.  Resources instead will be funneled to the artificial market for carbon allowances that cap and trade sets up.

8. It threatens to put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage with other countries: Though the E.U. and the United States may be buying into cap and trade, industrial giants like China and India are not.  Remember the lost jobs we talked about in point #4?  In addition to China and India, nearby Mexico (another country where cap and trade is not even a remote possibility) are more than willing to pick up the U.S. slack and bolster their already robust manufacturing sectors.

9. It opens the door to massive fraud and corruption:  As energy companies look to game the system, cap and trade would open the door wide for fraud and corruption that could devastate U.S. investors and the economy as a whole.  This has been seen already in the UK, a country currently participating in cap and trade.  In a recent article by the British-based Guardian newspaper they report: “Britain’s biggest polluting companies are abusing European emissions trading scheme (ETS) designed to tackle global warming by cashing in their carbon credits in order to bolster ailing balance sheets.”  In the United States we have seen what happens when companies engage in creative accounting measures to hide losses and the staggering domino effect it can have on Wall Street investors and the larger economy.  If you need more proof of this threat, look no further than this report by The Competitive Enterprise Institute that discusses Enron’s support for a cap and trade scheme that would allow them to dominate this new, made-up market for carbon.

10. It threatens to bust the federal budget at a time when the United States can scarcely afford it:  Federal spending continues at a breakneck pace.  The recent passage of the trillion-dollar stimulus bill along with even more taxpayer funded bailouts looming on the horizon add to U.S. budget woes and sink us deeper into recession.  And as if times weren’t tough enough, the CBO reports that cap and trade would heap additional undue pressure on our fragile budget.  According to their report, government would face the same challenges with higher energy costs that consumers do.  Additionally, the fall in production for U.S. industry would lead to a loss of federal government tax revenues.  Further increasing spending while decreasing revenues makes cap and trade a tough sell in the current economic climate.

http://www.freedomworks.org

http://controversyandchaos.com

Controversy and Chaos: WHY EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO GET BEHIND THE TEA PAR...

Controversy and Chaos: WHY EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO GET BEHIND THE TEA PAR...: "The purpose of the Tea Party movement has been to stop wasteful government spending, excessive taxation, and overreliance on regulatory bure..."

WHY EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO GET BEHIND THE TEA PARTY & VOTE OUT THE BUMS!

The purpose of the Tea Party movement has been to stop wasteful government spending, excessive taxation, and overreliance on regulatory bureaucracies.  Please forward this blog to as many people as you can and GET INVOLVED!



Support the Tea Party & VOTE OUT THE BUMS!



Contract with America   

We, the undersigned, call upon those seeking to represent us in public office to sign the Contract from America and by doing so commit to support each of its agenda items, work to bring each agenda item to a vote during the first year, and pledge to advocate on behalf of individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom.

Individual Liberty
Our moral, political, and economic liberties are inherent, not granted by our government. It is essential to the practice of these liberties that we be free from restriction over our peaceful political expression and free from excessive control over our economic choices.

Limited Government
The purpose of our government is to exercise only those limited powers that have been relinquished to it by the people, chief among these being the protection of our liberties by administering justice and ensuring our safety from threats arising inside or outside our country’s sovereign borders. When our government ventures beyond these functions and attempts to increase its power over the marketplace and the economic decisions of individuals, our liberties are diminished and the probability of corruption, internal strife, economic depression, and poverty increases.

Economic Freedom
The most powerful, proven instrument of material and social progress is the free market. The market economy, driven by the accumulated expressions of individual economic choices, is the only economic system that preserves and enhances individual liberty. Any other economic system, regardless of its intended pragmatic benefits, undermines our fundamental rights as free people.

 Protect the Constitution
Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.

Reject Cap & Trade
Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures.

Demand a Balanced Budget Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike.

Enact Fundamental Tax Reform

Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution. 

Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities, or ripe for wholesale reform or elimination due to our efforts to restore limited government consistent with the US Constitution’s meaning.

6. End Runaway Government Spending
Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.

Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn’t restricted by state boundaries.

Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy 
Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition and jobs.

Stop the Pork
Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark.

Stop the Tax Hikes
Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011.

If you would like to learn more or get involved to TAKE BACK AMERICA go to: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/

http://controversyandchaos.com

Controversy and Chaos: DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF SCREW YOU: OBAMACARE

Controversy and Chaos: DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF SCREW YOU: OBAMACARE: "Democrats are the Party of Screw You: Obamacare Many of the Democrats who are either up for re-election or are seeking political office for..."

DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF SCREW YOU: OBAMACARE

Democrats are the Party of Screw You: Obamacare

Many of the Democrats who are either up for re-election or are seeking political office for the first time are claiming that they oppose much of Obamacare and plan to fix it if elected/re-elected.
Don’t believe any of this rhetoric. There is an ulterior motive to these specious statements: to win election by whatever it takes. After that, expect most of these Democrats to toe the party line, either by coercion or personal convictions, and therefore not repeal Obamacare.

Only the Republicans can be trusted to attempt to repeal or defund Obamacare.

Vote Republican in November if you want to fight Obamacare … and to take back our country from the arrogant, elitist and radical Democratic politicians.

http://saveyourrights.com

THE TOP SIX REASONS TO REPEAL OBAMACARE

1.     ObamaCare makes health insurance MORE expensive for Americans:



Vote for Tea Party candidates this November!



a.     After having proclaimed, “If any bill arrives from Congress that is not controlling costs, that’s not a bill I can support.  It’s going to have to control costs,” President Obama has recently admitted that he “knew” the Democrats’ health care law would increase costs. 

b.    According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the Democrats’ health law will increase premiums for millions of families by up to $2,100 on average, by 2016.  This means that coverage will be $2,100 more expensive than it would have been if Congress had just left the current system alone.
c.     On September 8th the Wall Street Journal reported that health insurance companies are having to increase health insurance premiums by up to 20 percent next year, in part to comply with new federal mandates resulting from the Democrats’ health overhaul.
d.    Today, the New York Times reported that in California, rates could increase as much as 19 percent for individual policies, while in Connecticut, due to the new law, some premiums could rise as much as 22.9 percent.

2.     ObamaCare forces millions of Americans out of the health plan they have and like:

a.     Obama Administration officials predict the Democrats’ health law could force up to 117 million Americans to lose their current health plan.
b.    The effects are already being seen, as residents in Virginia have already lost access to one health care plan and many residents in Maine could lose theirs as well.
c.     ObamaCare encourages employers to eliminate worker benefits.

3.     ObamaCare discourages employers from hiring new workers, increasing wages, or retaining existing employees:

a.     The Democrats’ health care law slams employers with job killing taxes and increased costs, providing less money to small businesses to hire new workers and retain existing ones.
b.    Leading employer groups such as National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as Business Roundtable & Business Council call the Democrats’ health care law “destructive” and “dangerous” due to the fact it has created massive economic uncertainty, will increase the cost of doing business, and does nothing to control the cost of health care.
c.     With unemployment continuing to hover close to 10 percent, Congress should work to ease the heavy burdens our small businesses have been facing.  But buried in their health care law, Democrats included a $17 billion tax increase that requires small businesses to file a 1099 tax form for every business to which they make total payments in excess of $600 for all goods and services during the tax year.  According to NFIB, “at $74 an hour, tax paperwork is the most expensive paperwork burden placed on small businesses by the federal government.”

Vote out the Dems that passed OBMACARE!

4.     ObamaCare jeopardizes seniors’ health care: 

a.     The Obama Administration’s own actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimated the Medicare cuts contained in the Democrats’ health law could threaten seniors’ access to care and cause providers to stop treating Medicare patients.
b.    7.4 million Medicare beneficiaries who would have been enrolled in a Medicare health plan will lose their plan because of the $206 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) in the Democrats’ health law.  Next year alone, 1.2 million seniors will be forced out of their MA plan or prescription drug plan.
c.     Obama Administration officials predict 9 out of 10 seniors will lose their employer-sponsored retiree drug coverage and seniors enrolled in a MA plan can expect to see their benefits slashed by $816 a year in just a few short years as a result of the Democrats’ health law.
d.    CBO has estimated that Medicare prescription drug coverage premiums will increase by 9 percent as a result of the Democrats’ health law.

5.     Massive tax increases:

a.     The Democrats’ health care law contains $570 billion in tax increases and a dozen violations of the President’s pledge to not raise taxes on Americans earning less than $200,000 for singles and $250,000 if married.
b.    Through the individual mandate, Americans are forced to buy health insurance they may not want or be able to afford.  The Democrats’ bill empowers the IRS to verify if you have “acceptable” health care coverage, and, if you fail to prove you have purchased “minimum essential coverage,” the IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,085 or 2.5 percent of your income (whichever is greater).  The IRS will need to hire up to 16,500 new employees to enforce this and other tax increases in the bill.

6.     The cost of ObamaCare keeps growing & growing and America can’t afford it:

a.     Obama Administration’s own actuaries predict that the Democrats’ new health law will increase national health care spending by over $300,000,000,000.
b.    CBO predicts that federal health care-related spending could increase by an additional $115,000,000,000 or more over 10 years to just to implement the Democrats’ new health care law.
c.     The Obama Administration recently asked Congressional Democrats for $250 million in additional funding to “increase the primary care health workforce” after finally admitting their new law will lead to a shortage of doctors.
By Dave Camp, Ranking Member Committee on Ways & Means Republicans

http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov
http://controversyandchaos.com

Why I Support Sarah Palin

I support Sarah Palin, the following are reasons you should too! 

1. She articulates the common sense and practicality of
conservatism better than anyone else.
2. She knows energy like the back of her hand.
3. She is an inspiration to young women everywhere,
showing it is awesome to be conservative and a woman.
4. She doesn’t give 17-minute answers.
5. Her natural charisma drips off her leather jackets.
6. She is bold and lives her life like that.
7. She calls it the way she sees it.
8. She is confident in her abilities, yet not arrogant.
9. She shredded Obama in her RNC speech, after “family
scandal” was supposed to cripple her.
10. She tore Joe Biden apart in front of an international
audience.
11. She won’t run and hide even after all of the ways the Left
has attacked her.
12. She is tougher than nails but with a soft heart.
13. She has a steel spine.
14. She makes people say things like: “We are not gonna pull
the plug on Granny.”
15. She is not a D.C. politician.
16. She has sacrificed tremendously to fight for our country.
17. She leads by example.
18. She will stand with us and for us and protect us.
19. She is faithful, strong, caring, trustworthy.
20. She makes sound decisions without checking with all
voting blocks first.
21. She makes the Obama administration wear adult diapers.
22. She rose to power without the help of a party machinery.
23. She displays strength and resolve, important qualities of
a commander-in-chief.
24. She does things her own way.
25. She made history as the youngest ever and the first
female Governor of Alaska, and first female GOP VP pick.
26. She is the best person to lead this country back from the
brink of madness.
27. She reminds us of Abraham Lincoln who was similarly
pilloried as neither smart nor establishment fashionable.
28. She stands tall with her head held high.
29. She is a great leader for the hardworking American.
30. She stood up to the political establishment.
31. She is the reason many in the Tea Party started to get
involved politically.
32. She proves that real change is possible.
33. She supports fiscal conservatism, the sanctity of life, and
strong national defense
34. She shares many Americans’ values and ideals.
35. When she talks about smaller government, lower taxes, a
strong national defense, and the sanctity of life, she really
means what she says.
36. She’s the only one we can trust to undo what Obama has
done.
37. She believes that the government that governs least,
governs best.
38. She has the right message at the right time for America.
39. She uses sarcasm to make her points.
40. She has inspired record numbers of GOP women to run
She says, “backasswards.”

41. She will bring Reagan Conservative vision to Washington.

42. She supports Tea Party ideals.

43. She makes Obama, the LSM, and the GOP establishment
crazy.
44. She continues to drive the political news cycle.
45. She drains the joy right out of Joy Behar.
46. She uses Obama’s words against him every chance she
gets.
47. She makes Andrea Mitchell and Norah O’Donnell whine
and look petty and jealous.
48. She is the opposite of President Obama and Obama
knows it and can’t stand it.
49. She is dangerous to the pundits and to the establishment
because she does not operate according to their playbook.
50. She thought it would be funny if Andrea Mitchell got
smelly, fish water on her. And admitted it.
51. She doesn’t call her opponents “my friend”!
52. She fights with the intensity of a warrior.
53. Her faith guides her.
54. She doesn’t shove her faith down anyone’s throat.
55. She gave birth to Trig.
56. She is not ashamed to say that God is at the center of her
life, and the decisions she makes.
57. She balances self-confidence and humility better than
most anyone we’ve seen.
58. She is the first politician many of us believe is a better
person than us.
59. She is one of the few “politicians” who will do what is
right, even if she has to go against her party.
60. She demonstrates integrity, humor, humility, love for
God, family and country.
61. She stands on principle.
62. She doesn’t shift with the political wind.
63. She is someone I trust with my children’s future.
64. She is real – not a fake or a phony.
65. She was the same person August 29, 2008 as she was
when she ran for the city counsel, mayor, and the
governorship
66. She’s a fearless principled conservative, the People’s
Politician.
67. She resigned knowing that could possibly have
irreparably damaged her future in politics.
68. She always looks on the bright side of life.
69. She glows with true joy.
70. She loves her family.
71. She is a mom, wife, daughter, sister, and aunt.
72. She runs, played point guard in high school, and played
the flute.
73. She is not blinded by an Ivy League degree, or a lawyer’s
sheepskin.
74. She is one of us, but with the ability to go all the way.
75. She love sports.
76. She uses sports analogies.
77. She is family.
78. She makes everyone she touches part of her family.
79. She likes to eat meat.
80. She likes beer.
81. She rides snowmachines!
82. She named her kid after Van Halen!
83. She is a citizen-politician in every sense of the word.
84. She speaks the language of ordinary people, and she does
it all with a smile on her face, always upbeat and optimistic.
85. She’s almost single-mindedly pro-freedom in a world of
wannabe socialists.
86. She has common sense.
for office, and unlike Obama, she supports contested
primaries.
87. She loves America – and Americans.
88. She will do whatever it will take to keep
America/Americans safe.
89. She will not stop fighting for this country.
90. She has a strong love and respect for our Founding
Fathers, and the Constitution.
91. She stands for those who can’t.
92. She loves the military and knows that they are
responsible for our safety and freedom.
93. She will take out terrorists in the blink of an eye.
94. She upholds the Constitution.
95. She sees elected office as public service, not self-service.
96. She always puts the people she serves first.
97. She doesn’t like to talk about herself, and prefers writing
about the people in her life that have inspired her.
98. She thinks more of the others around her than herself.
99. She walks the walk with a true servant’s heart.
100. She doesn’t have an “I know what is best” -paternalistic
attitude that is pervasive all throughout government today.
101. She sacrificed her power for the best interests of her
state.

Run Sarah Run!!!

Please share this with your friends and family!

Nicole Coulter
Founder of EdgyConservative.com

Let your voice be heard and seen! 
For details go to: http://controversyandchaos.com/

Controversy and Chaos: Top Ten Reasons Obama's Presidency is Failing!

Controversy and Chaos: Top Ten Reasons Obama's Presidency is Failing!: "Journalist Gives Top Ten Reasons OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY is FAILING!Growing disillusionment with the Obama administration’s handling of the econo..."