Ill Omen For Cap and Trade in the USA

In a sure sign that cap-and-trade is in serious trouble here, the Australian Senate has voted down a cap-and-trade system in their country.

Why does it matter what the Aussies are doing? Because one of the primary arguments for a cap-and-trade system in this country is that everybody else is doing it, and we're not living up to our global responsibilities if we don't. It becomes awfully difficult to make that argument if other countries have already rejected similar schemes themselves.

Australians tilt farther left than Americans do as a whole, and if they can't muster enough to support there then it's highly unlikely that it can be done here either. Much as they did with the Kyoto Treaty which was rejected 95-0 in the Senate while Bill Clinton was still president largely because China and India were exempted, senators are highly unlikely to put businesses in their home states at such a disadvantage to their foreign competitors - especially in a recessionary economy.

Hillary Clinton recently tried to get India to do something about their carbon emissions too, only to be told in no uncertain terms that India wasn't buying:

"There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the
lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions," Ramesh
told Clinton. He asserted that "detailed modeling" showed "unambiguous"
results -- that developing country emissions would remain well below
the averages of developed countries even with high growth rates.

Australians understand that cap-and-trade would be an economy killer for them. Indians get it too. Too bad American Democrats still don't. It's going to be up to the American people to explain it to them in a language they DO understand: beat them at the ballot box. The 2010 election season is coming fast. It's never too early to let your representatives know that we're watching and, unlike their MoveOn.org paper tigers: we vote.

Global Politics, Democrats, Diplomacy, Cap and Trade, 2010 Elections, Enivronmentalism, Global Warming, Foreign Policy, Economy

But I Thought the Economy Had Been Rescued?

Rahm Emanuel said 3 weeks ago that they had "rescued the economy." At the time, John Boehner took to the floor of the House to disagree:

So who was right, Emanuel or Boehner? Let's look at today's headlines and see, shall we?

Foreclosures Rise 7 Percent in July from June - The filings were up 32 percent from last July, but we're supposed to believe that the housing market is improving and that things have bottomed out. This flies in the face of common sense. Especially when the latest report is that nearly half of all homeowners will owe more on their houses than they are worth by 2011.

Retail Sales Dip Unexpectedly, Jobless Claims Rise - I really have to wonder who these economists are who expected retail sales to increase during July because obviously none of them have been to a mall lately. When K-Mart and Sears are trying to jumpstart Christmas sales in July, on what planet does a serious economist project that sales are going to increase?

As far as the jobless claims rising, that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone either. The current 9.4% unemployment rate is an artifice caused by so many workers completely giving up looking for work during July: including discouraged workers, the actual rate is over 10%. Note also that the number of people still receiving benefits dropped by 140,000. Those are people who have been unemployed long enough for their benefits to completely run out. Do you think that a net of 140,000 losing their benefits in one week is likely to have a positive effect on the economy or a negative one?

Oil Rises Above $71 As Dollar Falls - The dollar fell because the Fed is still artificially holding down interest rates by buying up the massive amounts of debt that Obama is incurring with his feckless spending. In the same article, it is noted that gas prices have rised by 13 cents a gallon over the last month. This rise in gas prices is effectively a tax which Obama is imposing on the American people: gas prices are going up because it costs more to buy the oil, and it costs more to buy the oil because the Fed is being forced to buy Obama's debt. So much for not taxing anyone making under $250,000 per year, huh?

What is it with the Obama administration, from the top down, that they can't help but say stupid things that defy common sense? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Boehner clearly has the better of the argument.

Economy, Real Estate, Oil, Unemployment, Business, Barack Obama