Democrats Admit That Their Cap and Trade Bill Is a Job Killer
By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
In her remarks bringing the debate over the climate bill to a close, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California urged her colleagues to vote in favor of the cap and trade bill, saying the measure was about four things: "jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs."
She was right—the House-passed version of cap and trade is all about jobs: jobs lost, jobs never created, jobs sent overseas, and, unbelievably, jobs people will be paid for doing long after they cease to exist.
According to Friday's Washington Times, the legislation includes language that provides, should it become law, that people who lose their jobs because of it "could get a weekly paycheck for up to three years, subsidies to find new work and other generous benefits—courtesy of Uncle Sam."
How generous are these benefits? Well, according to the Times, "Adversely affected employees in oil, coal and other fossil-fuel sector jobs would qualify for a weekly check worth 70 percent of their current salary for up to three years. In addition, they would get $1,500 for job-search assistance and $1,500 for moving expenses from the bill's 'climate change worker adjustment assistance' program, which is expected to cost $4.2 billion from 2011 to 2019."
Instead of being a the source of millions of new jobs of "green jobs"—as House Democrats are fond of saying over and over again—the provision is a hidden admission that their effort is a job killer, not just a massive new tax on energy.
Building a safety net into the legislation is probably the responsible thing to do. The government is going to be directly responsible for the destruction of millions of jobs if the bill passed by the House becomes law—anywhere from a net loss of .5 percent of total jobs over the first 10 years, according to the liberal Brookings Institution, to 3 million by the year 2030, according to the industry-backed Coalition for Affordable American Energy. But wouldn't it be better to leave the jobs alone in the first place? It would certainly be cheaper.
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Tags: unemployment | Nancy Pelosi
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Reader Comments
Impact of Cap and Trade on Commercial Real Estate
Interesting take on the potential effect of cap-and-trade on jobs. Readers of this blog may be interested in a piece I've written at www.LeoWellsBlog.com regarding the potential effect of cap-and-trade on commercial real estate.
Cap and Trade
If our energy use and these greenhouse gasses causes all this global warming what caused all the ice to melt that covered the biggest pat of the United States? I suppose it was the automobiles and refineries that caused it all. This is a money grab by the government. Think about it, $15.00 aditional tax on a 20 gal tank of gas which equqtes to $700.00 a year in new taxes. A promise broken of no new taxes on any one making less than $200,000 a year. Cigerate tax, Gasoline tax. Where does it all end.
cap and trade bill/go against it
please go against the cap and trade bill,our families depend on it.i think barack obama is worse than bush ,we would have been better of with john mccain.why can;t they see this will starve our children to death.the coal miners have been doing there jobs for generations,why not leave it alone.if you had to live on a small income you would see different,but you are millionaires and do not care about the middle class people.barack obama gives help to people who have not worked a day in there life and who are addicted to drugs,be for the people that built this country,the blue collar workers.help us don't cripple us.ypu have to realize we love our children but what is going to happen to them when they have no means of being provided for.come on wake up people and help do something about it.
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