Hat tip to Olympia Business Watch:
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) along with the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) has come out with an estimate of what a national cap-and-trade carbon dioxide control bill will mean to the economy.
The bill, (S. 2191, American’s Climate Security Act of 2007) proposed by Senators Lieberman and Warner, would (according to NAM and ACCF):
[R]educe GHG emissions to 15% below 2005 levels by 2020; 30% below 2005 levels by 2030; and 70% below 2005 levels by 2050.
But what it would do to the economy in reaching those goals is truly frightening:
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) losses of between $150 and $210 billion by 2020 and $663 to $669 billion by 2030;
- Employment losses of 1.2 to 1.8 million in 2020 and 3 to 4 million in 2030;
- Household income losses of $739 to $2,927 per year by 2020 and $4,022 to $6,752 a year by 2030;
- Electricity rate increases of 28% to 33% by 2020 and 101% to 129% by 2020; and,
- Gasoline price increases (per gallon) of 20% to 69% by 2020 and 77% to 145% by 2030.
Four million job losses when we need more jobs to keep up with population growth. Household income reduction of $6,700 a year. Thats more than a lot of people pay in income taxes.
"Stopping" climate change is going to make a whole lot of people poorer (probably you and your children). It's not free. In fact, this shows the cost to be tremendous. What this bill is going to stop is economic growth.
And global warming may be natural and how poor you are will have no effect on it. But how poor you are will have a great effect on how long and well you live.
I know it's tempting to focus on the short-term pain rather than the long-term risk of doing nothing or the potential long-term gain of moving toward a clean, sustainable future. Personally, I'd rather have a healthy, sustainable, inhabitable world with diversity of species, abundant natural resources and a high quality of life (which is NOT dependent on ever-increasing financial income), than risk it all just so I can keep padding my pocketbook. Dirty jobs will be lost, but clean jobs will be gained. And our grandchildren will thank us for not being greedy and short-sighted.
Dave Gardner
Producer/Director
Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity
www.growthbusters.com
Posted by: Dave Gardner | March 22, 2008 at 01:20 PM