The Common Room: Yes, Cap and Trade Will Destroy Jobs, admit.... Democrats

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Yes, Cap and Trade Will Destroy Jobs, admit.... Democrats

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.

More here.

During the election season, Obama admitted that under his cap and trade plan, utility prices would skyrocket (I believe that is his word). So the price of utilities will skyrocket, hundreds of thousands of people will lose their jobs (and so will the people they buy things from) and to 'compensate' for that, those people directly and specifically in the oil, coal and other fossil-fuel sectors will get a paycheck from the rest of us for losing their jobs- but, in a climate of sky-rocketing fuel costs, they'll get a 30 percent pay cut. Naturally, they'll have to cut back their spending, which means the people downwind of them will also be losing jobs and suffering pay cuts in a climate of skyrocketing utility costs, but they won't be compensated for it.

Waxman Markey is not much better than a bullet to the spine. The bill must go, and so should Wasman, Markey, and the rest of the cesspool that is in Congress, AND the lobbyists. It's time for real, substantive change. Get rid of them all.

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.