The Pending Tax Nightmare of “Cap and Trade”
Our Congress is pending receipt of legislation that will produce the most egregious and regressive tax ever levied on the American people and our economy. This is coming at a time when no one can afford the escalation of all energy prices such a tax will produce in every area of the American economy, from top to bottom, front to back.
The proposed structure of this tax would be to impose a consumption tax of 45% on all carbon based energy uses, from buses and trucks, to autos, to energy production. This simply manages to touch literally every sector of the US economy, but puts the greatest burden directly on those least able to afford it. More importantly, this is the Obama equivalent of Bush Sr’s legendary quote re: the promise of (read my lips) NO NEW TAXES.
Obama ran on a platform of no new taxes for anyone earning less than $250,000. Given that, is this cap and trade thing going to be called by another name? It doesn’t matter what they call it, it will fall like a ton of bricks on those least able to afford it. How many middle class and marginal poor citizens can afford to pay 45% more for gasoline and diesel fuel, or 45% more to heat and cool their homes? How many will be able to afford our products whose production and shipping costs will jump also by at least 45%?
This goes to the fundamental issue of practical micro-economics. What are we missing here? I think we miss nothing except for those who bury their heads in the sand, hoping for a miracle. To me, miracles are like coincidences: I don’t believe in either. Neither should the American people.
At a time when it appears our Government can’t find $49 Billion worth of assets stolen by Madoff, and when they have shown themselves to be total clowns about monetary economics, how can they ask us to trust them with a straight face? One day last week, the Federal Reserve working with the Treasury injected $1 Trillion into the Economy in a SINGLE DAY. That was the deficit incurred for the entire World War II era.
Many people have missed this staggering new tax and its implications. This includes some of my wealthiest and most successful friends and acquaintances, well educated, and presumably rational and logical. As one person said to me, the new tax rate for those earning over $250,000 is only going up 5 to 10%. But that is before they exclude certain previous allowed deductions, or reduced charitable contribution rates.
This is a bad time to engage in social engineering. What is it about this recession and corruption that four consecutive administrations have been unable to understand?
We that are involved in trying to stop this enormous manipulation of our entire financial system on a treasonous level, through the mechanisms of fraud and counterfeiting of commercial securities, know what is going on. We have no excuse to remain silent, as with silence goes consent.
I will say something here that has no place in our Courts today. This is about the duties of citizens in a democracy. Right now, they are allowing these duties to be defaulted to others who have demonstrated no commitment to the values consistent with these duties.
Shame! This shame will be visited on our children, but only too far after anything short of a revolution can correct it.