Obama climate plan could cost $2 trillion

[stampede2873]

Washington Times Article


Spend, Spend, Spend, Spend, I said SPEND!!!

President Obama's climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, nearly three times the White House's initial estimate of the so-called "cap-and-trade" legislation, according to Senate staffers who were briefed by the White House.

A top economic aide to Mr. Obama told a group of Senate staffers last month that the president's climate-change plan would surely raise more than the $646 billion over eight years the White House had estimated publicly, according to multiple a number of staffers who attended the briefing Feb. 26.

"We all looked at each other like, 'Wow, that's a big number,'" said a top Republican staffer who attended the meeting along with between 50 and 60 other Democratic and Republican congressional aides.

The plan seeks to reduce pollution by setting a limit on carbon emissions and allowing businesses and groups to buy allowances, although exact details have not been released.

At the meeting, Jason Furman, a top Obama staffer, estimated that the president's cap-and-trade program could cost up to three times as much as the administration's early estimate of $646 billion over eight years. A study of an earlier cap-and-trade bill co-sponsored by Mr. Obama when he was a senator estimated the cost could top $366 billion a year by 2015.

A White House official did not confirm the large estimate, saying only that Obama aides previously had noted that the $646 billion estimate was "conservative."

"Any revenues in excess of the estimate would be rebated to vulnerable consumers, communities and businesses," the official said.

The Obama administration has proposed using the majority of the money generated from a cap-and-trade plan to pay for its middle-class tax cuts, while using about $120 billion to invest in renewable-energy projects.

Mr. Obama and congressional Democratic leaders have made passing a climate-change bill a top priority. But Republican leaders and moderate to conservative Democrats have cautioned against levying increased fees on businesses while the economy is still faltering.

House Republican leaders blasted the costs in the new estimate.

"The last thing we need is a massive tax increase in a recession, but reportedly that's what the White House is offering: up to $1.9 trillion in tax hikes on every single American who drives a car, turns on a light switch or buys a product made in the United States," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner. "And since this energy tax won't affect manufacturers in Mexico, India and China, it will do nothing but drive American jobs overseas."

 

[Roald]

just to show you what a trillion looks like:
http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

 

[stampede2873]

just to show you what a trillion looks like:
http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

That, Roald, was outstanding.:thumbsup:

Puts things into perspective.

A BIIIIIiiig perspective!

 

[Nester6]

Washington Times Article


Spend, Spend, Spend, Spend, I said SPEND!!!

Bright idea! Tax the few industries that are still here even more!

 

[Will E Worm]

President Obama's climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, nearly three times the White House's initial estimate of the so-called "cap-and-trade" legislation,

The last thing we need is a massive tax increase in a recession, but reportedly that's what the White House is offering: up to $1.9 trillion in tax hikes on every single American who drives a car, turns on a light switch or buys a product made in the United States,"

The change you wanted. More of the same tax and spend politics.

Also, more taxes on American made products. Great idea. Osama..I mean Obama. :tongue:

 

[warman2442]

Uh ohh this is great idea for recession! lol

 

[D-rock]

It's still better than having a planet that isn't habitable for human beings in the future. Of course they should also put strict rules in place so businesses can't just go overseas or use overseas operations to get around the rule. :dunno:

 

[sporty_carr]

2 trillion? Pshhh!!! That's chump change :1orglaugh

 

[DukeLaCrosse]

haha the washington times is a joke! ultra-right wing attack smear machine founded by the religious nut rev. sung yun moon

 

[capricorn]

The last thing we need is a massive tax increase in a recession, but reportedly that's what the White House is offering: up to $1.9 trillion in tax hikes on every single American who drives a car, turns on a light switch or buys a product made in the United States,"

Talking about the harmful effects of driving a car on the evironment is downright stupid since US produces 49% of its electricity by burning coal and another 20% by burning fossil fuels. In turn, that also means that if you buy an electric car, which allegedly has no emissions, you're still getting your energy for driving mostly from fossil fuels! See the contradiction?

Also if you build a factory which runs on electricity, it's like running it 70% on fossil fuels.

The first step MUST be shutting down the coal and gas burning facilities and building nuclear power plants and renewable energy sources instead. After that you can talk about driving cars and similar issues.

 

[ThatRedWing]

Just more tax and spend bullshit. By the way the planet is fine. The people are fucked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw

 

[CunningStunts]

More money we will owe to China.... go figure!

 

[DukeLaCrosse]

what a bunch of gullible idiots on here. you guys actually believe the washington times? morons

 

[stampede2873]

what a bunch of gullible idiots on here. you guys actually believe the washington times? morons

That's the best you can do to contribute to the conversation? How about something that debunks the article?

 

[Facial_King]

Fortunately our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been FREE - no spending required!!!

 

[titsrock]

I stopped listening to Republicans when the economy cratered, when Jack Abramoff had an office next door to the RNC HQ and when there were no WMD in Iraq.

Spending to serve a Democratic agenda sounds a lot better than ^^^this^^^ stuff.

Regulation is coming back. Taxes are coming back. America is coming back.

 

[ChefChiTown]

It's funny...

President Bush doesn't try and do shit for our environment and people complain.
President Obama tries to do something for our environment and...people complain.

Isn't America wonderful?

 

[Roald]

That, Roald, was outstanding.:thumbsup:

Puts things into perspective.

A BIIIIIiiig perspective!

To put it even more in perspective, here is what 1 trillion can buy you: http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/visualizing-one-trillion-dollars/

 

[Facetious]

It's funny...

President Bush doesn't try and do shit for our environment and people complain.
President Obama tries to do something for our environment and...people complain.

Isn't America wonderful?

But is there anything so dreadfully wrong with the environment in the first place ? Most of the shit that they say is "wrong" with the environment couldn't be corrected in the first place being that China India and Russia are currently undergoing massive industrial revolutions. Unless or until there is global cooperation opposing the burning of the filthiest most abundant fossil fuel in the world in (coal), we're all food for maggots.

The politicians have yet to demonstrate their effectiveness in throwing an immense number of tax payer paid obligations toward anything that has actually worked. Look no further than the U.S. Dept of Education.

Just live life to it's fullest, less the coal PLEASE !!

 

[The Paulinator]

Well, it passed the House 219-212

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/26/house.energy/index.html

FTFA:

The president said the bill will spark a "clean energy transformation" of the U.S. economy and "make possible the creation of millions of new jobs."

"Make no mistake," he emphasized. "This is a jobs bill."

Whether it passes the Senate remains to be seen, but since the president said it was a "jobs bill", prepare for unemployment to get back down to around 2% [/sarcasm]