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The Latest "Green" Gimmick: Fight Global Warming, Get Paid $1100/Year

From CNN Money. They call it "cap-and-dividend", and I call it cap-and-trade light.

"Known as cap-and-dividend, the recently introduced bill would require oil, coal, and natural gas companies to buy permits each month to sell their fuel. Three quarters of the proceeds would be returned to the public each month in the form of a dividend check, with the remaining money going towards renewable energy, conservation or assistance programs.

By driving up the cost of fossil fuel and making renewables more competitive, supporters say the plan will result in the same emission reductions as the current cap-and-trade bills before Congress. But they say it will be much more simple to operate."

Those of us who already invest in energy companies make dividends--what will this proposed scheme do to the existing shareholders of those companies?

It's bad enough that someone high up thinks they can bribe us to go along with the greatest global swindle of them all--the monthly bribe would come out to $91.67/month.

Imagine if mall retailers had to buy permits to sell their goods, or plastics merchants--you know, the people who induce China to crank out megatons of pollution to satisfy demand. THEY should be the ones required to get permits to sell!

You can run a sewing machine off a solar panel, but you can't run a smelter, a plastics plant, or a tire plant off one (or even several). I say take the heavy manufacturing to the power source: let the oil countries have it (and it just might help end jihad by giving them jobs and hope). The jihadis will be too busy working to go around blowing things up!

If you want to do something about global warming, or just want to side-step the coming tide of cap-and-something insanity, Obama gave you a way out: use the tax credits (whichever incarnation) to buy a house that uses natural gas, because gas is slated to go up the least in this undoubted energy price rise. For existing homes, check with your state to see if any tax credits exist for whole-house utility conversion, or credits for buying gas appliances and/or converting from electric appliances to gas ones.

Come spring, I'm slated to convert to a gas hot water heater, and get a gas dryer to have hooked up. I'm currently paying about $25/month to heat and cook (gas stove, no microwave use), and adding these other appliances to the load will at least double that--I'm aiming to get my electric bills to resemble my current gas bills, and this should happen when the final installations/conversions happen.

Speaking of microwave, the house came with one mounted above the stove, but it's just a bulky and expensive clock to me--I'm thinking of removing it. When we go to sell, people's electricity bills will probably have reached the "intolerable" level, and microwaves will (hopefully) go out of fashion. Maybe this new-found frugality will teach people that they can live within one income, and somebody (man or woman) will return to the kitchen and scratch cooking to continue saving money, and microwaves will become useless reminder of our instant gratification.

Posted by Cute at 9:05 PM

Labels: financial (non-tax), politics, social issues