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In my
last column, I joked that with public spending out of control and the piling
on of the international bailout bill, economic collapse seems to be the goal
of Congress. It is getting harder to joke about such a thing however, as the
non-partisan General Accounting Office (GAO) has estimated that the
administration's health care plan would actually cost over a trillion
dollars. This reality check may have given us a temporary reprieve on this
particular disastrous policy, however an equally disastrous energy policy
reared its ugly head on Capitol Hill last week.
The
Cap and Trade Bill HR 2454 was voted on last Friday. Proponents claim this
bill will help the environment, but what it really does is put another nail
in the economy's coffin. The idea is to establish a national level of carbon
dioxide emissions, and sell pollution permits to industry as the Catholic
Church used to sell indulgences to sinners. HR 2454 also gives federal
bureaucrats new power to regulate a wide variety of household appliances,
such as light bulbs and refrigerators, and further distorts the market by providing
more of your tax money to auto companies.
The
administration has pointed to Spain as a shining example of this type of
progressive energy policy. Spain has been massively diverting capital from
the private sector into politically favored environmental projects for the
better part of a decade, and many in Washington apparently like what they
see. However, under no circumstances should anyone serious about economic
recovery emulate an economy that is now approaching 20 percent unemployment,
where every green job created, eliminated 2.2 real jobs and cost around
$800,000 each!
The
real inconvenient truth is that the cost of government regulations, taxes,
fees, red tape and bureaucracy is a considerable expense that has to be
considered when companies decide where to do business and how many people
they can afford to hire. Increasing governmental burden directly causes
capital flight and job losses, as Spain has learned. In this global economy
its easy enough for businesses to relocate to countries that are more
politically friendly to economic growth. If our government continues to kick
the economy while its down, it will be a long time before it gets back up. In
fact, jobs are much more likely to go overseas, compounding our problems.
And
for what? Contrary to claims repeated over and over, there is no consensus in
the scientific community that global warming is getting worse or that it is
manmade. In fact over 30,000 scientists signed a petition recently directly
disputing the claims on which this policy is based. Legitimate environmental
claims should instead be directed towards the public sector. The government,
especially the military, is the most serious polluter in the country, and is
exempt from most EPA regulations. Meanwhile Washington bureaucrats have
classified the very air we exhale as a pollutant and have gone unchallenged
in this incredible assertion. The logical consequence is that there will come
a time when we will have to buy a government permit just to emit carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere from our own lungs!
The
events on Capitol Hill last week just demonstrate Washington's audacity in
manufacturing problems just so they can expand government power to solve
them.
Ron Paul
www.house.gov/paul
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other articles by Ron Paul
Congressman
Ron Paul of Texas enjoys a national reputation as the premier advocate for
liberty in politics today. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman in Washington for
limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to
sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. For more
information click on the Project Freedom website.
Published
with the authorization of Dr. Paul.
Copyright
Dr. Ron Paul
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