Why Cap and Trade is Counterproductive

No matter how much we talk about how cap and trade legislation would raise cost of electricity, there are still those who believe it is necessary in order to reduce emissions of green house gases.  The problem is that it will NOT reduce that for very clear, economic and logical reasons.

In order to reduce carbon emissions a company will need to invest in research and development in order to find a better, cleaner way of doing what they already do.  If you really want climate change legislation, the companies should be encouraged to do just that.  But is this what cap and trade will do?  Of course not.

The companies that emit the most green house gases will be required to either pay heavy fines or buy credits from companies who emit low emissions.  Either way, this not only increases their opperating costs; costs which will have to be passed on to the customer in order to stay in business, but it also removes any available funds from research and development.  In other words, we actually prevent them from creating the very innovation we say we need them to make.

If we need our companies to innovate and find cleaner ways of doing things, instead of punishing them for not already having it, why wouldn't we give then incentives to get it done?  Give tax breaks for any funds invested in clean technology and reward the reductions in emissions instead of levying heavy fines which would prevent the innovation.  Why don't we do that? Oh, wait, I know, it's because that would prevent the government from playing favorites within the private sector.  The current cap and trade is nothing but a way for the pet industries of the government to rape the other industries.  I'm very confident this is will happen because this legislation has already been tried in Europe and actually caused emissions to go up.

Instead of repeated the failed policies of Europe, why don't we try something that might actually work.  Incentivize verses punishment.  A novel concept I know, but it just might work.

Congress Regulates TP Usage

I initially wrote this six months ago but with the way things are going I thought it would be fun to resurrect it.

In the new green environment of Congress and the Obama Administration, legislation is being passed to control how we use products that impact the planet. When the Cap and Trade was proposed, Republican Roy Blunt said, "Taxes on air my ass!" This gave the Democratic leadership in congress what they believe is a brilliant idea.

"Americans use too much toilet paper," said Harry Reid. "They don't consider how these big wads of paper clog up our sewer systems and put strain on our water treatment systems. They also don't consider how many trees have to be cut down in order to wipe their asses. This selfish lack of consideration for our environment is partially responsible for the global warming / climate change crisis."

New regulations are being put on the toilet paper industry so that 2 ply toilet paper will be banned, and biodegradability will be more important than softness. It has also been proposed to put a per sheet tax on the toilet paper to ensure that Americans are not using more than they need. Questions arose on how to manage this in public restrooms and the suggestion was made to install automatic, coin operated dispensers. These will not be installed in the Capital building or in any other restroom utilized by Government officials and their staff. However, Lindsey Graham (R) offered an alternative stating that we use the numerous copies of the stimulus package as a toilet paper alternative. He said, "all that bill was good for was wiping our asses anyway."

The toilet paper industry is just the first in many publicly owned companies that the Congress will now attempt to design products for. They have decided that they can't get us to buy what they want us to so they will ensure that any undesirable products are no longer created. Enjoy that 2 ply soft toilet paper while you can. If Congress didn't chap your ass before, the certainly will soon.