Cap-and-Trade “Most Profoundly Anti-Consumer Legislation Ever Brought Before a Congress”

Washington, D.C.—The extent to which American businesses will be able to compete – and American consumers, survive – under cap-and-trade is the topic of Day Three of the Waxman House hearings this afternoon. Dr. Robert Michaels, professor of economics at California State University at Fullerton and senior fellow for the Institute for Energy Research (IER), was one of the witnesses asked to testify before the Markey subcommittee today, calling cap-and-trade the “most profoundly anti-consumer legislation ever brought before a Congress.”

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The following represents key excerpts from his prepared testimony: “This bill’s entire thrust is to make energy needlessly scarce, and then somehow conclude that this action is good for the economy.” “The higher prices mean lower standards of living for the American consumers who purchase them. They also mean that American goods become less attractive to foreign buyers than those from competitor nations that are attempting to develop their energy sectors rather than downgrade them.” “Those who believe that re-spending of revenue from allowance auctions will create jobs have been conspicuously silent about jobs that will be destroyed in businesses that must purchase them.” “What this bill really will create is not prosperity, but a less productive, less competitive economy with lower incomes, less opportunity, and less wealth to hand on to future generations.” To read more of Dr. Michaels’ testimony, click here. More from IER on the pitfalls of “green jobs”: Study: Spain’s Experience: The Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources Study: Green Jobs Myths Study: Green Jobs: Fact or Fiction? Blog: It Takes a Lot of Government Green to Create a Green Job