The Costs of Cap and Trade, Deadly Auto Regulations and Rockefeller on Health Care
The U.S. Treasury Department admits that a “cap and trade” system for regulating greenhouse gas emissions could cost every household $1,761 a year.
New fuel economy regulations set to increase to 35.5 mpg.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) criticizes the plan to raise taxes on health insurance companies.
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.
1. ENVIRONMENT
The U.S. Treasury Department admits that a “cap and trade” system for regulating greenhouse gas emissions could cost every household $1,761 a year.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on the accumulating evidence on the costs of cap and trade:
“The bill’s proponents talk about protecting consumers while intermittently acknowledging that cap-and-trade can only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by dramatically raising the price of energy derived from coal, oil and natural gas. President Obama said during the campaign last year that ‘under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.’ Dr. Peter Orszag, now head of the White House Office and Management and Budget, testified last year when he was head of the Congressional Budget Office that ‘price increases would be essential to the success of a cap-and-trade program.’”
2. SAFETY
New fuel economy regulations set to increase to 35.5 mpg.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on the flip-flopping of safety advocates regarding efficiency mandates:
“While some of the arguments being used to support these proposals are new, they’re all in line with the decades-long refusal of advocates to admit that it kills anyone. One typical argument is that [the corporate average fuel economy program] must be safe because it’s endorsed by Ralph Nader. Mr. Nader’s position, however, has not been consistent. In the ’70s he attacked the Volkswagen Beetle as being inherently unsafe due to its small size. As late as 1989, he pointed out the fuel-economy/safety trade-off, stating that ‘larger cars are safer—there is more bulk to protect the occupant. But they are less fuel efficient…’ Now he claims that there is no trade-off.”
3. HEALTH
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) criticizes the plan to raise taxes on health insurance companies.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on how we can fix health care without more government regulation:
“[Free market reforms] would help to fix our broken health care system by reducing costs and enabling better informed, cost-conscious decision making. By themselves, they will not guarantee access to health insurance among those with chronic preexisting conditions. But if we reform the existing maze of federal and state regulation, we will then be able to address the problem of the truly chronically uninsured.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.