WhatFinger


The carbon killer.

Obama to jobless Americans: Pound sand, suckers, I’ve got a planet to save



Just in case you're one of the 12 million Americans still struggling to find a job in the New Normal, Barack Obama has a message that will clarify the situation:
Screw you. Know what this nation really needs right now? An all-in battle against carbon, which is after all the cause of "our greatest global threat," waged entirely by executive order. The Wall Street Journal explains the extent to which Obama is willing to eviscerate the economy in the pursuit of this objective. It's not pretty:

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The higher costs will ripple through the energy chain, which is precisely Mr. Obama's goal. Only by artificially raising the cost of carbon energy can he make even heavily subsidized "renewables" competitive. In general every $1 billion spent complying with an EPA rule threatens 16,000 jobs and cuts GDP by $1.2 billion -- and the agency is now writing scores of multibillion-dollar rules. Keep in mind that last month the Administration quietly raised the "social cost" of carbon by 60% in a regulatory filing related to microwave ovens. That means the EPA can jack up costs by 59.99% and still justify them by claiming the higher benefits.
This regressive burden won't merely be borne by average American consumers and utility rate-payers -- especially in the Midwest and Southern regions that use the most coal. This also threatens one of the few booming parts of the economy, the energy revolution driven by shale gas and unconventional oil. The return of manufacturing to the U.S. depends on this cheap abundant energy, and it could as easily re-relocate overseas as the U.S. becomes less competitive. For good measure, Mr. Obama also declared that he will approve the Keystone XL pipeline "only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution." Yet the oil in Alberta won't stay in the ground if Mr. Obama blocks the route to the Gulf of Mexico. It will be shipped by rail and boat to China and elsewhere. The only question is whether America will benefit from this shovel-ready project that will create tens of thousands of jobs.
And just in case you still buy the global warming crap and think this is all worth it, there is bad news for you too: Obama's moves won't do a thing to change global atmospheric carbon concentrations, which are already falling in the U.S. but are rising in developing nations. So, all this economic decimation for nothing? Yep. Why do something like this? From Obama's perspective, I can think of a couple of reasons. There's no way his economic policies are going to boost GDP or bring down unemployment, and he won't change the policies because he is ideologically bound to them. So if he's not making anyone happy on that front, he might as well make the greenies happy. Plus, he thinks he can win a political tussle with Republicans over the legitimacy of global warming, so he wouldn't mind baiting them into having that debate. And of course, he'd rather talk about anything but Scandalpalooza. So off we go, driving energy costs through the roof and knee-capping one of the few economic sectors that has the potential for major growth - all to fruitlessly battle a "threat" that doesn't exist. Aren't you glad we re-elected this guy?


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Dan Calabrese -- Bio and Archives

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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