Freedom of BLEEP

After 3 AM on the same day it was up for vote, Democrats added 300 pages to the Cap and Trade legislation. Let’s take a close look at yet another bill that was passed by Congresss without even being read.

Section 217 says that the Federal Government will be able to require a homeowner to retrofit their home to meet certain environmental standards before it can be sold. Some homeowners may actually be required to replace their windows, faucets, toilets, water heaters, insulation, and anything else that doesn’t meet government efficiency standards - all before the house can be put on the market. This could easily exceed $20,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. Not to mention the hassle associated with trying to get a government employee to show up at your house for the inspection. It will be worse than waiting for the cable guy.

Section 433 is pretty interesting too: “Protection of Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds.” This section suggests that jobs will probably be lost because of cap and trade. That’s right, Democrats actually realize that this bill will hurt our economy. In a nutshell, administrators of Medicare and Social Security will be able to tap into general revenues of the U.S. Government, if it is determined that the Cap and Trade bill has resulted in a reduction of revenues going into those two trust funds. As if the government doesn’t already tax us enough for Medicare and Social Security.

An equally disturbing matter is that the legislation seems to acknowledge cap and trade will be a tremendous cost to consumers. On page 1193, the bill describes an Energy Refund Program. Basically those making less than $50,000 a year will get checks from the government to compensate them for increased costs caused by cap and trade. If you make more than $50k? Well, you’re screwed. And where do you think money for refunds will come from? Tax payers of course! The same tax payers who will be paying higher prices for everything they buy, all thanks to cap and trade.

Wall Street Journal reported that cap and trade could cost families almost $2000 per year by 2020. That estimate was formulated before the last round of changes.

Tags: Cap and Trade, environment, government

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 am and is filed under Cap and Trade, democrats, environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.