from The Washington Post
The ‘Cap And Tax’ Dead End
By Sarah Palin
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America’s unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won’t bring jobs. Our nation’s debt is unsustainable, and the federal government’s reach into the private sector is unprecedented.
Unfortunately, many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges. So, at risk of disappointing the chattering class, let me make clear what is foremost on my mind and where my focus will be:
I am deeply concerned about President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.
American prosperity has always been driven by the steady supply of abundant, affordable energy. Particularly in Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president’s cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy.
There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn’t lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive! Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America’s economy.
Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs.
In addition to immediately increasing unemployment in the energy sector, even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan. For example, the cost of farming will certainly increase, driving down farm incomes while driving up grocery prices. The costs of manufacturing, warehousing and transportation will also increase.
The ironic beauty in this plan? Soon, even the most ardent liberal will understand supply-side economics.
The Americans hit hardest will be those already struggling to make ends meet. As the president eloquently puts it, their electricity bills will “necessarily skyrocket.” So much for not raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.
Even Warren Buffett, an ardent Obama supporter, admitted that under the cap-and-tax scheme, “poor people are going to pay a lot more for electricity.”
We must move in a new direction. We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil. Just as important, we have more desire and ability to protect the environment than any foreign nation from which we purchase energy today.
In Alaska, we are progressing on the largest private-sector energy project in history. Our 3,000-mile natural gas pipeline will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America. We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.
Of course, Alaska is not the sole source of American energy. Many states have abundant coal, whose technology is continuously making it into a cleaner energy source. Westerners literally sit on mountains of oil and gas, and every state can consider the possibility of nuclear energy.
We have an important choice to make. Do we want to control our energy supply and its environmental impact? Or, do we want to outsource it to China, Russia and Saudi Arabia? Make no mistake: President Obama’s plan will result in the latter.
For so many reasons, we can’t afford to kill responsible domestic energy production or clobber every American consumer with higher prices.
Can America produce more of its own energy through strategic investments that protect the environment, revive our economy and secure our nation?
Yes, we can. Just not with Barack Obama’s energy cap-and-tax plan.
The writer, a Republican, is governor of Alaska.
“the big question is ‘can we trust her’?”
Why hold her to a higher standard than any other politician?
LOL !
nvw (22:04:08) wrote:
Ms. Palin is correct on this issue, but as an Alaskan I am not impressed with her leadership and political decision making. When it comes to demonstrating scientific literacy, I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.
——————————————————————
That’s an attack on her religion, and not really relevant to what she has written here. I think her scientific and economic literacy are evident in the content of her op-ed. Why don’t you respond to what she’s written and not to what’s been written about her?
nvw
Not a strawman, not an attack on religion, but in fact simply a fabrication, an untruth, a non-fact, a distortion, in essence, a lie.
Wow! I wish we had someone like her in the UK.
O/T quote:
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” — Goethe
Ron de Haan
Harper has a minority government that can be toppled on ANY pretense. Shutting down the discussion would be political suicide… and not at the “next election”, immediately. There are no defined terms in Canada.
Harper is doing the right thing. Keeping the entire topic on the back burner, and not making outrageous claims or attempting to impose draconian laws. Canadians were brainwashed very effectively by previous governments, and actually seem to believe the leftist spew.
Elizabeth (22:10:05) :
Hmmm… she could just well be shooting herself in the foot with this one.
Or she could finally be saying what most are wishing a politician should have been saying.
Why don’t you respond to what she’s written and not to what’s been written about her?
Nice way to put it.
“Not a strawman, not an attack on religion, but in fact simply a fabrication, an untruth, a non-fact, a distortion, in essence, a lie.”
And that is what Palin has had to put up with this whole time. It started with an email that was basically idle gossip that the major news organizations spread as fact until it turned out that none of the tidbits were true. Time after time the items reported as “facts” in the news have been shown to be false. This was right up to when she resigned and it was reported that she was under some sort of investigation by the FBI. These allegations were reported by major news outlets without any checking whatsoever. The FBI came out the next day and said the accusations were false. That was not as widely reported as the original accusations were.
The American left has a penchant for what is called “shut up” politics. If they do not like your message, they attack you personally in order to shut you up and in order to discourage others from speaking out. The messages is “if you speak out, we will do this to you, too”. Politicians on the left do not have to worry about a critical press. Nobody will investigate them. Their misdeeds, even if caught, will be suppressed and only the bare minimum possible reported … usually omitting the political party. How many have heard anything in the major media recently about the Jefferson trial? He was caught red handed with $90,000 in bribe money in 2005. He was allowed to keep his seat in Congress until the voters in his district threw him out last year. You think the press would be so silent of Palin were caught with $90,000 in bribe money in her freezer?
The message is they will twist, distort, lie, repeat gossip, not check stories, not report corrections, never apologize and aim to destroy any individual who attempts to speak a message counter to theirs. The left in this country is despicable, in my personal opinion, in how they go about furthering their cause.
Palin is very courageous not to back down and to hold their feet to the fire for their deeds. She will probably be one of the few voices we can count on in the upcoming mid-term elections to “speak truth to power”.
Palin 2012!! For real?
Probably. The question is, who will she be running against? Now that’s the truly interesting question in light of today’s court ruling against Obama.
In another eligibility case in which the judge ordered hearings to procede, the procedural methods that have worked in the past to shut down other cases have been thrown out and the case will be heard (for the first time) on its merits. But then, you don’t hear of such things from the major media. Let’s see them ignore it when it gets to the discovery phase and documents (real, original long-form birth certificate, passport info, college info, etc.) are ordered released. The rest of this year should be very interesting. And we thought Washington was in an uproar just before Nixon resigned!
As for Palin in 2012 – let’s hope she has a laid back administration with its main focus on cutting spending and jobs – bureaucratic spending & jobs.
As a Brit, I too wish for some ‘naive’ politicians. Politicians that say the obvious and weather the storm of vested interests and leftish hate have a way of showing how far separated governments are from the people or Common Sense.
I’m delighted the Feminists hate her, since they recognize that she doesn’t see men as meal-tickets and she is quite likely to shove their own hypocrisies back in their face. She and her husband would be a breath of fresh air inside the beltway.
You betcha’ indeed.
Why don’t you respond to what she’s written and not to what’s been written about her?
I’m one of those rare Democrats who doesn’t buy the AGW mantra in any way shape or form, and the cap and trade tax may end my 30+yr voting for Dems into actively supporting Republicans. I feel that strongly. For the time being, however, I’m still quite partisan and freely admit my bias against Ms. Palin. To that end, I’ll choose to believe she’s only parroting back what material she’s been given. I would shudder to think about her being interviewed on the topic rather than reading from what seems to be a prepared statement.
We are going to see an enormous voter backlash against AGW and Cap and Trade.
To date, voters haven’t any real choice because all major parties in all western countries had supported AGW and C&T. Now we are seeing cracks in this uniformity and voters will flock to parties that espouse scepticism.
BTW, I am reassured that many here see the UN for what it is – probably the most corrupt organization on the planet. It bothers me that people who view their own politicians as venal and corrupt, see the UN as an organization above reproach.
I hope the upshot is governments asking why we let the UN con us like this.
I read the poison and scorn poured on Palin by our own MSM all the while it was fawning and salivating over Obama. Comparing Palin with Obama today she’s standing out like a bright beacon of common sense while Obama cringes in the shadows. No wonder they hate her.
Gene – I agree, she started out saying stuff like this and then apparently the Mc Cain group wanted to try and out Dem the Dem’s and that ain’t happening. [
I like her, straight forward and no crap – if it smells like a rotten fish – it probably is
“We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge”
And of course, any major oil spill will mind it’s business and stay on it’s 2000acre reservation.
Perhaps a middle way with a state run enterprise using private sector knowhow and a substantial reinvestment of profit in stringent procedures and preventative measures might work. But accidents still happen.
Does anyone know the size of the offshore Alaskan reserve? UK North sea oil is just about done.
My bumper sticker suggestion:
“Sarah Save US 2012”
Now she’s my kind of lady.
Palin already made her position clear on this issue. I don’t trust anything she says…
MODERATOR: “…do you support capping carbon emissions?”
PALIN: “I do. I do.” (Transcript)
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript/?iref=mpstoryview
Walt Stone
Give her credit for recognising what good science and policy is. This is something that Obama seems unable to do.
1. Obama doesn’t know what a good budget is.
2. Doesn’t know what a good stimulus package is.
3. Cannot recognise good science
4. Thinks apologising to the world is good foreign policy.
But he does seem to like policy that blatantly intrudes on private lives, rewards like-thinkers and punishes dissidents.
Palin is the last person we want talking about this…
STATE OF ALASKA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR: ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 238
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/admin-orders/238.html
“I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the State of Alaska, under the authority of art. III, secs. 1 and 24 of the Alaska Constitution establish the Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet to advise the Office of the Governor on the preparation and implementation of an Alaska climate change strategy.
10. the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Alaska sources.
12. the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the operations of Alaska state government;
13. the opportunities for Alaska to participate in carbon-trading markets, including the offering of carbon sequestration.”
Her solutions are more of the same state intervention in energy markets. The free market doesn’t need government to do anything but get out of the way.
Her useless pipeline is just something she continue to bring up to try and make herself look good, what it is, is nothing more than government intervention gone wrong.
Alaska lawmakers question gas line’s economics (USA Today)
“The Canadian company won an exclusive state license to build the pipeline under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, and with it up to $500 million in state incentives. Another company, formed by ConocoPhillips and BP PLC, is proposing its own pipeline without the incentives.
The global recession, combined with the new sources of natural gas, are creating surpluses in the Lower 48 that could depress prices for years to come, and possibly stall the Alaska project. Natural gas was trading around $7 per 1,000 cubic feet when the Legislature passed the inducement act in 2007 and briefly soared to more than $10 in 2008, making the project more enticing. But on Wednesday, prices settled at $3.68 per 1,000 cubic feet, and that’s not the only thing dropping. The state budget is facing $1.3 billion shortfalls this year and next.
Still, the gas pipeline will not be in service until 2019 at best and state officials say lawmakers need to focus on a long-term prize that could be the state’s next economic lifeline.
Natural gas is plentiful in the Lower 48 and becoming ever more so thanks to new sources like shale to bolster dwindling supplies of conventional gas. In just the last 10 years, more than 20,000 miles of new natural gas pipeline have been built and brought online and another 10,100 miles are planned by 2010, according to the Energy Information Administration. If completed, the nation’s natural gas capacity would jump by more than 38 percent, the EIA said.
Still, no matter how rosy a picture the energy analysts and state officials paint, it’s the big oil companies that hold the leases to Alaska’s gas. And while the two pipeline competitors said they are moving toward a 2010 open season — where it’s hoped that producers will bid on space in the line to ship the gas — it’s not at all certain that will happen. The oil and gas companies have complained that the state’s tax structure and fiscal terms are too uncertain for them to make that 25- to 30-year bet.” – USA Today
This is interesting:
(h/t HotAir)
http://people-press.org/report/528/
What will happen if Obama’s birth certificate proves he’s not born in the US? Will this see him thrown out of office for breaching the rules?
Molon Labe (22:09:05) :
“I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.”
Instead, the fact of actual relevence is that despite all lack of science, proof, and valid adverse evidence, Obama and His fellow Cultist AGWer’s still zealously believe that GW resulting from fossil fuel CO2 is certainly going to destroy the Earth – and very soon if not already. Repent, Ye sinners!
h/t Dennis Miller?
Tallbloke: What you have just described is a fascist system, private ownership but with government control. Do you want to live under faschism?
The oil companies know – they aren’t allowed to say what they know, but EVERY single time the media and the guvmint have guessed, they got it waaaaaaaaaay wrong and waaaaaaaay low… So the math I’m doing is multiply what I’ve read by 10 or 20 times. It helps that I majored in Geology for a bit – one of the fundamentals I learned is that locations of mineral and oil deposits is tremendously murky and impossible to truly predict and/or understand. Because what we know is dwarfed by what we don’t. You can’t know much ’til you drill. And then, you only know what you found, and you have to drill some more.
To quote the musical group Chicago, but don’t quote me on this, I don’t have the lyrics in front of me:
America need you
Harry Truman
Harry, you’d know what to do.
The world is spinning ’round
and losing lots of ground
So, Harry,
can you tell us what to do to save the land we love?
Harry!
Harry, can you tell us what to do to save the land we love?
Seems to me that the closest politician in the USA to Harry Truman is
Sarah Palin.