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.
I met Sarah Palin in ’07 at a non-political function. She had no telepromter, spoke off the cuff and came across as a real person. Not a good politician. So it is understandable that the empty suits would hate her. Not sure I want her as president, she does bring some fresh air to the debate.
Many of the bad things said about her originate with Tina Fay’s portrayal on SNL, like “seeing Russia”. The media did a good job of spreading that.
As for BO’s mother: Her age did matter. If someone is born to a U.S. citizen while outside the U.S. AND that citizen had lived in the U.S. for 5 consecutive years after age 16 (prior to giving birth) then the child is a citizen. This was the case with McCain, he was born in Panama. In Obama’s case, it does not apply, as his mother was 18 at the time of his birth.
Smokey:
That tells me a lot of folks are scared of her, and not because she’s incompetent. On the contrary; I think their marching orders and talking points come from officials who get very puckered up at the thought of someone coming into town with a clean broom.
Yes!!!
By the way, Alaska has fire damage as we speak over 150,000 acres. Talk about smoke and particulate.
Once when I was in Alaska, they hadn’t seen the mountain for weeks because of smoke.
Back to her claims. A couple of people actually think if we drill ANWR, the rigs can’t drill within the boundaries. Where do you come up with that? They also insist there will be spills. How many spills are there when rigs are totally abandoned during hurricanes? Fear mongering sure mixes well with false claims.
rbateman writes: “I can see her stump speech in 2011:
” I was against Cap & Trade when everyone around me was following blindly. Personally, I found it to be an idea dumber than dirt.”
And I can see this claim getting torn to shreds in the Republican primaries when her opponents remind the audience that she supported capping emissions in the 2008 VP debate.
Retired Engineer (09:18:31) : “I met Sarah Palen in ‘07 at a non-political function. She had no telepromter, spoke off the cuff and came across as a real person. Not a good politician.”
I bet you believe she wasn’t using a teleprompter in her quit speech, either.
“Colorado Citizen – I can only surmise she doesn’t understand this issue, or she would have based her opposition on why cap and trade won’t reduce pollution, or why she doesn’t believe industrial pollution is a threat or exists in meaningful enough amounts to combat it with cap and trade. ”
She doesn’t understand any issue! She just repeats talking point she gets from people in the Republican party. The whole get off foreign oil dependency is made by those who have no remote idea where our energy comes from nor how it is used…
– Only 16% of U.S. oil imports come from the Middle East (EIA)
– The largest supplier of oil to the U.S. is Canada (EIA)
– The second largest supplier of oil to the U.S. is Mexico (EIA)
– Only 0.005% of U.S. domestic oil production is exported (EIA)
– Only 1.5% of the United States electrical generation comes from oil (EIA) (48% Coal, 20% Natural Gas, 19% Nuclear)
We do not have the oil reserves to get off foreign oil, not unless you want to pay $10 a gallon. Energy independence is a myth repeated by those who do not understand economics.
5 Myths About Breaking Our Foreign Oil Habit (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/10/AR2008011002452_pf.html
Energy Independence Equals Economic Incompetence (Energy Tribune)
http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1028
Remember the Synthetic Fuels Corporation? (The Heritage Foundation)
http://www.heritage.org/press/dailybriefing/policyweblog.cfm?blogid=05E49511-A0C9-D18A-0F7298B25EB50C89
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Mahatma Gandhi
I agree that eliminating foreign oil dependence is probably not possible.
But wouldn’t it be better if extraction royalties went to our government and not Mexico’s – as much as possible?
Poptech (10:12:11) :
She doesn’t understand any issue! She just repeats talking point she gets from people in the Republican party.
He doesn’t understand any issue! He just reads talking points from a teleprompter what is written by people in the Democratic party.
Fixed.
Someone may have written that on Sarah Palin’s behalf, but Sarah Palin did not write that herself.
“”” pkatt (21:56:38) :
🙂 She can come and hang out with us teabagging rednecks anytime. Sarah is Sarah.. many of us respect her as a real human being, a refreshing change from all the corrupt posers in Washington today. Haters of her will trash her family , her looks, just about anything they can to avoid talking about her beliefs or political ideals. Anthony you are very brave for posting that here. The mere mention of her name envokes the nuttys comming out of the woodwork.
All I can say.. I agree entirely. “””
Excuse me; but are you talking about Governor Palin; the Governor of the largest State in the Union; larger even than whatever are the next three largest States ?
She worked long and hard to earn that title; we should give her the courtesy of using it, while she holds that Office. Even the President; the saddest excuse for a man to ever occupy the Nation’s highest Office; is deserving of being addressed by his title; so long as he constinues to go through the motions of that Office.
Colorado Citizen (07:35:26) :
Ok – whether you’re a Palin supporter or not, has it occurred to anyone to wonder why she is basing her opposition to cap and trade on foreign energy dependency?
The point of cap and trade is to reduce pollution. But she doesn’t mention that even once, not even in passing.
I can only surmise she doesn’t understand this issue, or she would have based her opposition on why cap and trade won’t reduce pollution, or why she doesn’t believe industrial pollution is a threat or exists in meaningful enough amounts to combat it with cap and trade.
For that matter, she doesn’t even talk about why she has changed her mind on cap and trade, a policy she clearly supported during her VP campaign.
The logical place to go is where it hits people in the pocket book. In addition, Barack Hussein has been hammering in soundbites that cap and tax is about “Energy Independence,” although Nancy Pelosi says it is about “jobs”. Therefore,the economic front seems the logical area to attack from. Also, she’s writing an editorial, not an opus. You don’t normally mention something in passing in an short editorial unless it supports the theme of the piece. Why would you put in “Oh, and cap and tax doesn’t reduce pollution either.” It doesn’t support the work. I think your criticism says more about you than Gov. Palin. What she wrote is what she wrote. Maybe you should write her and tell her to throw the whole kitchen sink at it next time?
“”” Poptech (10:12:11) :
“Colorado Citizen – I can only surmise she doesn’t understand this issue, or she would have based her opposition on why cap and trade won’t reduce pollution, or why she doesn’t believe industrial pollution is a threat or exists in meaningful enough amounts to combat it with cap and trade. ”
She doesn’t understand any issue! She just repeats talking point she gets from people in the Republican party. The whole get off foreign oil dependency is made by those who have no remote idea where our energy comes from nor how it is used…
We do not have the oil reserves to get off foreign oil, not unless you want to pay $10 a gallon. Energy independence is a myth repeated by those who do not understand economics. “””
Evidently all of those criticisms you just offered, could equally be said of the present occupier of the White House; who isn’t even able to tell when reading a teleprompter, that he is reading a speach concocted for somebody besides him to read.
And I would check the Domestic oil reserves again if I was you; don’t forget to include all of those that have been found domestically, and then promptely declared off limits by politicians who aren’t the least bit interested in solving energy supply problems.
Cap and tax, has nothing to do with pollution; it is about taxation increase to fund out of control social engineering spending. The bill was passed in the house without one single Congressman having read it; nobody even knows who wrote it; it certainly wasn’t anybody elected by any US voters.
I’m not sure that Palin has much of a future in national politics , at least not on the presidential level . She could probably do well in the senate , if she could get elected . I have always maintained that the vicious assault on her – and Joe the Plumber – that arose in the media stemmed from the fact that they represent the true middle class : right of center , church going folks mired with everyday problems and concerns . The type of Americans the liberal media prefers to pretend don’t exist outside of sitcoms . The middle class is largely theoretical to the elitists and they can’t stand it when middle class types actually stand up and speak for themselves .
Oh lord.
I have seen this blog on the top of WordPress every day. I thought you guys were scientists. Now you are embracing the most unintelligent politician of our lifetime?
Color me disappointed.
“”” Colorado Citizen (09:34:13) :
Retired Engineer (09:18:31) : “I met Sarah Palen in ‘07 at a non-political function. She had no telepromter, spoke off the cuff and came across as a real person. Not a good politician.”
I bet you believe she wasn’t using a teleprompter in her quit speech, either. “””
Not only was she not reading any Teleprompter; but she also had no other notes of any kind. She was outside in the open, remote from such unnecessary things.
I haven’t had so much fun in a long time, as it is watching the leftist socialists squirming at the thought of an ordinary home maker, putting the rout to the charlatans who want to run our lives. The NOW hags can’t even live with themselves so long as Governor Palin is showing the pretenders some real moxy.
No matter what her plans are; she is certainly going to provide much entrtainment to replace the sorry lot that we have serving us in Washington.
Those of you that want to denigrate Sarah Palen might consider the only success of Obama was being elected. After his election he has claimed to have ‘solved’ the financial crisis, claimed to have ‘solved’ the recession, claims to be solving the health care crisis, claims to be solving the imaginary global warming crisis while balancing the budget. The U.S. is currently sliding into a deep recession with unemployment approaching 10%. The U.S. is going into debt in trillion dollar chunks. The cap and tax proposal will kill jobs and business in the U.S. while promoting jobs outside the U.S. . Sara Palen on her worst day would do less damage than Obama does daily. Obama and his advisers do not even have the science correct without a thought about what to do other than to increase taxes regressively. One exception to above was to paint your roof white, to solve in techno speak warming ( Nobel laureate for I don’t understand ).
The level of drooling hate and misogyny in the WaPo comment section has to be seen to be believed.
From the Los Angeles Times (April 15, 2009):
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin acknowledged Tuesday that global warming was harming her state…
Speaking at a hearing before Interior Secretary Ken Salazar…
Palin said that relatively clean-burning natural gas could supplant dirtier fuels and slow the discharge of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
“We Alaskans are living with the changes that you are observing in Washington,” she said. “The dramatic decreases in the extent of summer sea ice, increased coastal erosion, melting of permafrost, decrease in alpine glaciers and overall ecosystem changes are very real to us.”
” Colorado Citizen (07:35:26) :
The point of cap and trade is to reduce pollution.”
No it’s not, it’s an exercise by the reactionary left fascists in trying to control the amount of energy available to the American economy.
No energy, no economy.
Or at least no wealth producing capitalist economy.
Mr Lynn (06:18:55) :
tallbloke (00:03:50) :
“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. . .
Oil spills are rare and in the overall scheme of things trivial. Vastly more oil is poured out into the oceans of the world from undersea vents
I learn something new every day. Thanks.
Not so sure about your figures. This NASA page seems to offer a reasonably unemotive survey.
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_oil_pollution.html
It seems to me that Sarah Palin is exciting exactly the same sort of polarity that Margaret Thatcher achieved in the UK a generation ago, and still does today.
Whatever you think of her, Margaret Thatcher is still considered by very many people to have been the best UK leader since Churchill.
I will be keeping an eye on Sarah Palin over the next few years. These are interesting times!
I’m surprised Sarah Palin finished writing this column.
I assumed she would just quit half way through.
What is wisdom?
“Sarah Palin can do what you did. You cannot do what she did.”
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Victor Davis Hanson Asks Sarah Palin Critics, “Why the Hatred?”
http://www.pjtv.com/video/Pajamas_TV/Victor_Davis_Hanson_Asks_Sarah_Palin_Critics%2C_%22Why_the_Hatred%3F%22/2133/
George E. Smith, I like your moxie!