The auto industry has long been a target of environmental activists. The push to put American consumers in smaller cars has been made quite clear. First, the Obama Administration enacted higher fuel efficiency standards – standards laden with unintended consequences. Now Congress is considering a cap and trade proposal that, by 2035, would raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 58 percent.
But that’s not all. The Heritage Foundation’s economic analysis of the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill found that the transportation equipment industry would be one of the hardest hit sectors. This includes just about everything under the umbrella of transportation: motor vehicles and auto manufacturing, auto parts manufacturing, truck and bus bodies, motor vehicle parts and accessories, truck trailers, motor homes, aircrafts, aircraft engines and parts, ship and boat building and repairing, railroads and railroad equipment, and motorcycles and bicycle parts.
The Heritage Foundation’s analysis of the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill found that, over the 2012-2035 timeline, transportation equipment job losses average over 78,000. There would be over 174,000 fewer transportation equipment jobs with a cap and trade bill than without one.
Consider yourself warned.
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This doesn't take a think tank to determine that any device that consumes fossil fuels will become more expensive to own or operate.
Of course, the absurdity of this whole exercise is we could all start riding our bicycles to work, but if the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) keep doing what they're doing, our reduction in greenhouse gases will be more than offset by their continued increases.
Maybe Michael Jackson could change the World, but neither Al Gore nor Barack Obama can duplicate his feat.
The challenge also is that the more we affect the cost of energy that the cost of everything we buy goes up (due to the increased costs that pass on to the consumer so companies can survive).
It does not take a smart person to observe how costs have already gone up due to oil costs imposed by foreign dependency on oil. I suppose you could say that for many years Washington and the environmentalists have imposed 'Cap and Trade' on our own oil so we have to depend on the Middle East glut and lust for our money. We have to help the terrorists have money! Otherwise they would be run out of business. (Incidently they will run out of oil in the not too far distant future – then the world will have a real crisis.
Either ignorance, stupidity or traitorous endeavors out of our 'representatives' and dictator leaders in DC are really screwing up our economy and country, and the whole world. Of course all of their actions to tax and spend us to death is not their fault – never will be in their minds!
Not 'God bless America' but 'God make America blessable'.