Pirate's Cove

One would almost think that McCain really does not want the GOP nomination. Of all the bonehead mistakes McCain has made, which include McCain-Feingold and not wanting the tax cuts, this one has to rank right up there in the top 5

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate bill to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would raise energy prices and also reduce American economic output by more than half a trillion dollars over two decades, according to a government report released on Monday.

One proposal, introduced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman and John McCain, would gradually reduce total U.S. emissions by the year 2050 to 60 percent below 1990 levels.

The bill would require companies to report their yearly greenhouse gas emissions and submit a matching number of government-issued allowances to equal the emissions spewed. Companies that emit more would have to buy allowances from cleaner companies that produce fewer emissions.

Besides the pandering to idiots who believe in anthropamorphic climate change, this goes completely against American Conservative ideals, ie, government should stay the hell out of business. This interference would drive costs way up, and who pays? The consumer. Meaning fewer purchases, meaning layoffs, meaning a decline in the economy.

However, the proposal would cut into the U.S. economy and raise gasoline and other energy prices paid by consumers, according to an analysis of the legislation by the Energy Information Administration.

The legislation "increases the cost of using energy, which reduces real economic output, reduces purchasing power, and lowers aggregate demand for goods and services," the EIA said.

With companies trying to meet the shrinking emissions levels, U.S. economic output would be $533 billion lower over the 2009 to 2030 time period, the agency said.

It is so easy that everyone should be able to understand the consequences of increasing the cost of doing business, yet, some either don’t, or do not care, or want to do that. Coming from a Liberal, it is understandable. From a neocon (which is actually the correct term for American conservatives. Classical Liberal is also acceptable) like McCain, it is just one more nail in his presidential ambitions coffin.