What do you mean only British? =P I told him what I did because he seemed to be expecting you to know basic details covered about the bill in the media, and I knew you probably wouldn’t know that stuff. I didn't mean to rub your nose wrong or anything!
But let’s take a look at the economic issues this raises. The economy is incredibly important, as you already established, so we really should understand as much as we can about what this is going to do; in all honesty, I’m not sure why we wouldn’t take into consideration the negative factors this will have on our economy if indeed it is so important, even if we place the same import on the environment...
"The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less.These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.
[…]
Note also that the CBO analysis is an average for the country as a whole. It doesn't take into account the fact that certain regions and populations will be more severely hit than others -- manufacturing states more than service states; coal producing states more than states that rely on hydro or natural gas. Low-income Americans, who devote more of their disposable income to energy, have more to lose than high-income families."
Despite what history teachers and school books tell us about the Civil War, it wasn’t all about slavery. Slavery was an issue, to be sure, but the real issues were States Rights and the North’s unfair taxes and tariffs that they were placing on Southern goods. These were the real boiling points, and Slavery as a State’s Rights issue, thus the reason why the Civil War is also referred to as the War of Northern Aggression. (Well… that and they literally fired on the South first. After the Southern states seceded.)
Anyway. This is a repeat. It’s just ONE of the many issues involved, but Southern and so-called “Fly-over States” will be far more adversely affected by this than the liberal Coastlines whose representatives are the large supporters of it. Production, as always, happens in Southern States and Flyover Country.
There’s also the deal that was made as a payoff to farmers in order to garner the support of Southern Rural Democrats in the House: they created an exemption for farmers that produce corn for ethanol. I don’t know how it affected y’all over there, but the last time there was a push for ethanol, it created a shortage. It didn’t help that we had hurricanes and bad weather wiping out crops at the same time, either. In any case, ethanol doesn’t work; it’s inefficient. But what’s going to happen is that farmers are going to see that they can make more money and pay less in taxes if they grow corn instead of other crops.
Does this seem like an issue to you?
What is it going to do to the cost of food, which will already be impacted by rising energy costs and the new regulations on farmers this bill promises with its passing, if less farmers are growing it?
And these are just TWO tiny pieces of the GIANT 1500 page bill that no one’s read all the way through. In comparison, the Constitution, the supreme law of our land, was only 4 pages. Personally, I think the economy is an excellent reason in and of itself to oppose this legislation.
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Date: 2009-06-29 09:10 pm (UTC)But let’s take a look at the economic issues this raises. The economy is incredibly important, as you already established, so we really should understand as much as we can about what this is going to do; in all honesty, I’m not sure why we wouldn’t take into consideration the negative factors this will have on our economy if indeed it is so important, even if we place the same import on the environment...
"The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.
[…]
Note also that the CBO analysis is an average for the country as a whole. It doesn't take into account the fact that certain regions and populations will be more severely hit than others -- manufacturing states more than service states; coal producing states more than states that rely on hydro or natural gas. Low-income Americans, who devote more of their disposable income to energy, have more to lose than high-income families."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124588837560750781.html
Despite what history teachers and school books tell us about the Civil War, it wasn’t all about slavery. Slavery was an issue, to be sure, but the real issues were States Rights and the North’s unfair taxes and tariffs that they were placing on Southern goods. These were the real boiling points, and Slavery as a State’s Rights issue, thus the reason why the Civil War is also referred to as the War of Northern Aggression. (Well… that and they literally fired on the South first. After the Southern states seceded.)
Anyway. This is a repeat. It’s just ONE of the many issues involved, but Southern and so-called “Fly-over States” will be far more adversely affected by this than the liberal Coastlines whose representatives are the large supporters of it. Production, as always, happens in Southern States and Flyover Country.
There’s also the deal that was made as a payoff to farmers in order to garner the support of Southern Rural Democrats in the House: they created an exemption for farmers that produce corn for ethanol. I don’t know how it affected y’all over there, but the last time there was a push for ethanol, it created a shortage. It didn’t help that we had hurricanes and bad weather wiping out crops at the same time, either. In any case, ethanol doesn’t work; it’s inefficient. But what’s going to happen is that farmers are going to see that they can make more money and pay less in taxes if they grow corn instead of other crops.
Does this seem like an issue to you?
What is it going to do to the cost of food, which will already be impacted by rising energy costs and the new regulations on farmers this bill promises with its passing, if less farmers are growing it?
And these are just TWO tiny pieces of the GIANT 1500 page bill that no one’s read all the way through. In comparison, the Constitution, the supreme law of our land, was only 4 pages. Personally, I think the economy is an excellent reason in and of itself to oppose this legislation.