Cap-and-Trade Vote Is Bad News for the Economy

So the House passed the cap-and-trade bill last night by a slim majority. In keeping with President Obama's inability to live up to his many "transparency" promises and have bills posted before they are signed, Speaker Pelosi, who once promised to provide Members at least 24 hours before scheduling a vote on a bill, forced Members to vote on this critical bill when they couldn't have possibly read it in its entirety. A 300 page amendment was added the morning of the vote.

Few know exactly what the bill contains, but we do know how it's main measures will affect the economy. This tax on carbon will drive up the cost of doing business in the United States and lead to higher energy prices, which means families and businesses will have less to spend on other things. You could call it an anti-stimulus, draining away resources that could be used for consumption or productive activity. Of course, most of the bill's provisions won't go into affect for a couple of years (I guess it shares that with the real so-called "stimulus" bill too...), but it will encourage companies to start contorting how they do business and lobbying Congress to give their company or industry the special breaks that will inevitably follow.

Of course, the impact on the environment-even if you believe the best case scenario for carbon reductions and accept the global warming logic-will be more or less zilch. A costly, futile gesture to say the least.