C(r)ap and Trade - Socialism Marches On.....

Under all the hub-bub going on with Obama’s Socialist Healthcare Plan, Nancy Pelosi and her liberal comrades have been pushing “Cap and Trade” legislation through Congress. The liberals in the House of Representatives have already passed the bill and now on its way to the Senate for their approval – if the liberals are successful there, Cap & Trade will become law – right under our noses.

So what is Cap and Trade? In simple terms, it’s more Socialism – this time cleaning up the environment on the backs of the taxpayer. It, like all other legislation has many aspects, but there are two key components that will kill the economy, both now and in the future. The common provision for both provides for “indirect taxation”, which allows liberals to preach that they didn’t raise your taxes while taking more money out of your pocket.

One of these provisions affects the way Americans sell their homes. The provision requires sellers to have an EPA inspection of their home; with the EPA telling sellers what environmental improvements are required BEFORE it can be sold. The seller would bear the expense to fix or replace any items deemed not “energy efficient” by the EPA inspector – this includes the heating/air conditioning system, washers/dryers, kitchen appliances, doors and windows. It’s easy to see these government mandated upgrades could run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

So sellers are faced with either raising the selling price of the home to cover the EPA imposed costs, or simply take it off the market. Prospective buyers, faced with the reduced pool of homes for sale and higher prices, will either not buy or delay the decision to buy – all scenarios reduce home sales, a key ingredient of economic recovery.

Another provision targets companies that emit carbon in the environment – like power companies that burn coal to produce the electricity that you and I depend on every day. The legislation requires these companies to buy permits from the government to cover the amount of carbon they emit. Each year going forward, the permit price goes up – making the production of electricity more and more expensive. So power companies will pass on these costs to guess who – you and me.

Crap and Trade is straight up Socialism. Its anti-capitalist legislation that will have devastating effect on our economy costing Americans thousands of dollars. It will affect all Americans regardless of their income and hit lower income households and senior citizens the hardest – with the burden growing larger each year.

So much for liberal democrats claiming to be the great protectors of the “hard working men and women of America”.