CAP AND TRADE AND ACID RAIN

Do you remember the hype about acid rain?

Acid rain was going to ruin the woodlands and wetlands around the world.

The world was coming to an end because of acid rain.

Acid rain was caused mostly by us filthy Americans pouring pollutants into our fragile atmosphere (never mind that the atmosphere is not only not fragile, but that "acid rain" is actually part of its cleansing activity).

"Scientific" study after "scientific" study proved that we were totally doomed because of acid rain.

We learn from such experts as thinkquest dot org (I did it that way so as NOT to provide you with a link...but you can still type that in your URL address box and get there), that "The invisible gases that cause acid rain usually come from automobiles or coal-burning power plants."

AND we also find out that there are more natural causes of acid rain than there are human causes.

Later that self-same set of "experts" tell us that "In Third World nations..., acid rain tends to be very high."

Now, do Third World nations have more or fewer automobiles and coal-burning power plants than we do here in the U.S.A.?

So...what have you been hearing about acid rain lately?

Now I use this example to make a point about something that seems totally unrelated: Cap and Trade, which is really not unrelated at all.

With Congress' passing of Cap and Trade legislation comes "economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of global pollutants."

The theory is that some central agency (federal or international - think UN) sets a CAP on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted.

Companies or other groups are issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of allowances that represent the right to emit a specific amount.

The total amount of allowances and credits cannot exceed the CAP, Companies that need to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from those who pollute less.

The transfer of allowances is referred to as a TRADE.

The buyer pays a TAX for polluting, why the seller gets a TAX BREAK or even a REBATE.

All of this is the government's idea of the FIX for global warming (and maybe acid rain, too...although acid rain seems no longer to be a problem, since we never read about it in the MSM any more).

Meanwhile, the planet is not getting warmer. According to some very confused scientists, it is now cooling down.

So in the end, the government will be extracting a TAX on you (what...you think a business that has to pay a Cap and Trade TAX is just going to absorb it?), to fix a problem that has already fixed itself.

Tell me again...why are you surprised?