Senators Lieberman, Graham, and Kerry have come forward with a bold, new proposal on global warming… or not.
Here is Senator Lieberman’s description of the “new” proposal:
“You remember the artist formerly known as Prince?” Lieberman said. “This is the market-based system for punishing polluters previously known as ‘cap and trade.’ “
Who will be punished under this re-badged clunker? The Center for Data Analysis estimated that cap-and-trade legislation will cost the economy $7-9 trillion in lost national income and lead to millions of lost jobs (even after credit for any green jobs).
Household energy prices will rise 50-90 percent. Average farm profits will drop over 50 percent. Manufacturing is especially hard hit, losing jobs at a rate 4.4 times that of the economy overall.
Senator Lieberman has been refreshingly clear that this bill is intended to punish. But it is American families, farmers, factories and more who will suffer the pain.
A new name for a bad policy is a bad idea.
As we reported last week, 2009 will mark the first time ever in American history that the majority of union members work for federal, state, or local governments. The percentage shift has been staggering. In 1973 only 17.3% of union members worked for government. Today that number is 51.2%.
When unions depended on steel plants, coal mines, and automobile factories for their livelihood there was at least a chance that they would support some pro-growth public policies. But now that unions are dependent on the government, and not the private sector, for their membership dues pro-growth policies are not a priority at all. Hence the Big Labor/enviro alliance behind carbon cap and trade tax programs.
Worse, unions now have every incentive to grow government at the expense of taxpayers and private sector jobs. Manhattan Institute senior fellow Steven Malanga explains:
In the private sector … employers who are too generous with pay and benefits will be punished. In the public sector, however, more union members means more voters. And more voters means more dollars for political campaigns to elect sympathetic politicians who will enact higher taxes to foot the bill for the upward arc of government spending on workers
Big Labor has already bankrupted our nation’s once great auto industry. But who will Big Labor turn to when Big Government has bankrupted us?