Carbon Hysteria Threatens World Economies

Yes, it's true. Carbon hysteria in Europe, Australia, the US, and elsewhere threatens to shut down businesses and industry, eliminate many millions of jobs, and raise the living costs of average people to an alarming degree. In the US:

Greenhouse gas cap-and-trade legislation such as that proposed by the Obama administration and under discussion in the House could result in the loss of more than 3 million jobs by 2030, according to a recently released report.

In addition, the legislation could cost the average household $2,100 annually, according to the report compiled on behalf of the Coalition for Affordable American Energy _Workforce

And in Australia:

AUSTRALIA'S electricity generators have warned the Rudd Government that power stations could face insolvency this year under an emissions trading scheme that forced such rapid change it risked "blowing up in their faces".

The National Generators Forum told a Senate committee yesterday that many power stations would simply not be able to afford the 100 to 200 per cent increase in operating costs under the current plan to require them to buy more than 80 per cent of necessary emissions permits. This would leave some insolvent and all struggling to find $50 billion in new and refinancing capital over the next five years. _Australian

The tragedy of these governmental policy blunders is that they are all totally unnecessary. There is no climate catastrophe brewing. The likely sea level rise between now and the year 2100 is approximately 3 1/2 inches. Antarctica is not losing ice -- in fact Antarctica is gaining sea ice at a startling rate. The far more realistic threat is global cooling, with deadly cold winters, shorter growing seasons and less rainfall leading to more global hunger.

And yet the idiot governments of the world insist upon shooting their citizens in the pocketbooks and in their livelihoods. Here is a short and incomplete list of the damaging effects of misguided government energy and climate policy:

1. Cap and Trade Is a Massive Energy Tax
2. It Will Not Make A Substantive Impact on the Environment
3. It Will Kill Jobs
4. It Will Cause Electricity Bills and Gas Prices to Sharply Increase
5. It Will Outsource Manufacturing Jobs and Hurt Free Trade
6. It Will Make You Choose Between Energy, Groceries, Clothing or Haircuts.
7. It Will Be Highly Susceptible to Fraud and Corruption
8. It Will Hurt Senior Citizens, the Poor, and the Unemployed the Worst
9. It Will Cost American Families Over $3,000 a Year
10. President Obama Admitted “Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket” under a cap-and-trade program. (January 2008) _Heritage_via_TomNelson

H/T Bennie Peiser's CCNet Newsletter