Cap-and-Trade...What is it really?...

I would wager that average person has no idea what cap-and-trade really means. I mean, in all reality, it sound innocent enough. It is something to do with money or Wall Street isn't is?...No?...That's the reaction of many that I run into during the my every day interactions. Many people actually have no clue what cap-and-trade is all about or what it will mean to their economic future. Well, I'm going to do my utmost to explain it here...Cap-and-trade is another one of those partisan play on words. It is meant to be confusing to the general public. After all, if the public doesn't know what it really means, then they won't complain, and it will be passed without much of a fight.

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Cap-and-trade, as explained by the Climate Policy Center, is "A regulatory program under which the government would 1) set a cap on the volume of harmful emissions (such as carbon dioxide, mercury, nitrous oxide and sulphur) that would be permitted, and 2) distribute the rights to allowed emissions." Hmm...Sounds like just what we need. Right?...Another program for the government to regulate. Another restriction on your freedom. I mean, after all, they've done wonderfully managing everything else...Yes!...The sarcasm was intended. Now that we know what it is, let's find out who the government is expecting to oversee the regulation. The government expects the Environmental Protection Agency to do the regulating. How will they regulate? Well, this is the tricky part. The government, with the EPA's engineers and "head honchos", will come up with a number of emissions, which is at the time of this article unreported. If the company exceeds their number of "allowable" emissions, they will pay a fine (Wait a minute...When did money enter this equation), or purchase credits from other companies who haven't used all of their "allowances." Who will determine what the cost of purchasing these "allowances" is?...Well, the market of course. The market has always done a good job regulating the prices of other commodities, such as gas prices...Right?...It is a fairly complicated program. Numbers released by the Congressional Budget Office report that the program would initially generate profits of $50 Billion a year, but could reach up to $300 Billion a year. So, if you can believe it, to some companies who would barely make the list of those who needed to be regulated, this could become a fairly lucrative program. Maybe with a few dollars thrown to my congressman and a little schmoozing, also know as lobbying, I could have my house included in the program and be able to sell to my "allowances" to companies. As you can see, it could open up huge doors to misuse, fraud, and corruption, as if we needed any more ways for our elected officials to be manipulated.

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What is the goal of all this non-sense you ask?...Well, that's where it gets REALLY weird. Again, believe it or not, the governments of the world and scientists all over this vast globe, at least the ones who believe in "man-made" global warming, hope to reduce the temperature of this world by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2050...No! I'm not making up those numbers. So, as you can see, again we come back to the almighty dollar...This blogger believes that it is nothing more than the government's own version of a "ponzi scheme". Yes, being able to bilk companies out of huge sums of money, while at the same time appeasing the "green" people all over the world and those who hope to make shameless profits off of this scam, Al Gore et al., brings with it huge inherent advantages. Those people who are profiting are sure to want these programs to continue, so they will vote for those who make all of this possible...Those who actually believe in man-made global warming, which coincidentally is the biggest scam ever created in the history of mankind, will vote for them as well. It's a win-win situation for them all.

How will it all affect you personally? Why should you care? Well, all of these costs are certainly not going to be absorbed by the companies. They will be passed on to the consumer...Republican leaders say the bill would be "the largest tax increase in American history." That means you would bare the burden. The cost of energy will increase exponentially. There are estimates now that our electricity bills could increase by as much as 90% and gasoline prices by as much as 75%. That could translate to as much as $1500 extra in energy bills for your families. All so we can supposedly reduce the earth's temperature by a paltry 2 degrees Celsius, as if the scientists even knew for sure that was possible or that it would make any difference in our climate.

As if all I have told you isn't enough, maybe this will tip the scale. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bring H.R. 2454 (Obama-Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy bill) to the floor for a vote on Friday, June 26, 2009. Why is she in such a hurry to do this? Could it be because the Democrats have a majority in the House of Representative and she thinks this bone-headed bill is good for the country? Maybe...I, however, believe that it is because she is the owner of an "unknown" number of shares in a little company called Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE), which are reportedly valued at between $10,000 and $15,000 a share. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, corruption rears it's ugly head yet again. This is a terrific conflict of interest. She would stand to profit substantially through this program. I urge each and every one of you who reads this to call your representative and tell them to vote NO on H.R. 2454. Politicians shouldn't be allowed to profit from legislation they pass. Let them know that we are sick and tired of government interference in our lives and that corruption won't be tolerated.

Update!...

Well, Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives have successfully passed Cap-and-Trade legislation and it has now been sent to the Senate for their consideration, where it faces an uphill battle at best. Hopefully, it will die there. What is particularly disturbing about the House passing the bill is that a little after 3 A.M., the morning of the vote, over 300 pages were added to the bill. There's no way ANY, let alone all, of the representatives had time to read what was added to the bill before it was passed. The bill should NOT have been sent to the floor for a vote. It is a mockery of everything that our Founding Fathers stood for. Corruption and high class "trickery" seem to be the new standard our elected officials have endorsed. Once again, if you and I, the citizens, don't stand up against this type of behavior, we will pay the price with our freedom and liberty...Make no mistake...Tyranny is on the way...