Yet another emergency

Henry Waxman, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, and Ed Markey, a member of a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, unveiled their new climate bill a couple of weeks ago, and it has everything you would expect from two of the leading green doomsayers, and even a little more: a cap-and-trade system aimed at making companies get permits for their emissions, and even has a border adjustment program that requires foreign companies in countries without strict CO2 emissions standards to pay for their use of carbon. This is nothing more than a tariff which violates WTO laws, and has the potential of igniting a trade war.

Also, on Friday the EPA ruled that greenhouse gases "endanger public health and welfare," and took the first step toward regulating them. So it seems that right now there is a bit of a battle going on between branches of government over who gets to regulate our economy. Of course, Henry Waxman is never one to let a good opportunity to regulate go to waste, saying that the EPA shouldn't be regulating carbon emissions, which instead should be regulated by the bill that he proposed.

It should come of some concern that both cosponsors of the climate change bill in Congress are from California. California has probably the strictest emissions standards in the nation, and, not surprisingly, one of the worst economies. This bill would put the rest of us on the same footing as their state. The industry heavy parts of the country, the ones that actually produce the energy for the vast majority of Americans, would be hit the hardest. It would be a one-two punch of sorts for many people there. Many would probably lose their jobs, and then they would have to pay more for their energy since it costs so much more to produce it.

Waxman has a plan for this though. The majority of the estimated $646 billion in revenues generated from this plan would be put into 'green technologies,' especially wind and solar. Despite the massive federal subsidies already given to these green technologies, not one of them has come anywhere close to being economically or practically viable. Yet Waxman believes that we just need some more money.

Both Waxman and EPA officials stress the importance of regulating greenhouse gases because of the impending catastrophe if we don't. “It’s what the scientists are telling us we must do” to avoid a global catastrophe, Waxman said. It's funny how many emergencies we have been having lately. The second stimulus package had to be passed in order to avoid the next Great Depression. Obama's budget needed to be passed to avoid the exact same disaster. Sweeping health care reform, without actually considering the effects of the reforms and whether or not they will actually help, and which aims to crowd out private health care, is needed to stave off the next economic disaster and save the health of our nation. Now this is needed to fight the global meltdown that's coming unless we take this 'drastic' action.

Either our elected officials are superheroes, or just chicken littles who scare people in order to get their latest government expansion/regulation bill passed.