Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Palin Blasts 'Cap and Tax'

Obviously, love is in the air . . .



Gov. Sarah Palin Spoke out today (Tuesday) against Barack Obama's disastrous "Cap and Trade" proposals. I'll be writing on cap and trade, as well as the "global warming" fantasy, on Wed. and Thurs.

The 'Cap and Tax' Dead End

By Sarah Palin
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Washington Post

There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America's unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won't bring jobs. Our nation's debt is unsustainable, and the federal government's reach into the private sector is unprecedented.


Unfortunately, many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges. So, at risk of disappointing the chattering class, let me make clear what is foremost on my mind and where my focus will be:
I am deeply concerned about President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.


American prosperity has always been driven by the steady supply of abundant, affordable energy. Particularly in Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president's cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy.

There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn't lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive! Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America's economy.

Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs.

In addition to immediately increasing unemployment in the energy sector, even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan. For example, the cost of farming will certainly increase, driving down farm incomes while driving up grocery prices. The costs of manufacturing, warehousing and transportation will also increase.

The ironic beauty in this plan? Soon, even the most ardent liberal will understand supply-side economics.


The Americans hit hardest will be those already struggling to make ends meet. As the president eloquently puts it, their electricity bills will "necessarily skyrocket." So much for not raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.


Even Warren Buffett, an ardent Obama supporter, admitted that under the cap-and-tax scheme, "poor people are going to pay a lot more for electricity."

We must move in a new direction. We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil. Just as important, we have more desire and ability to protect the environment than any foreign nation from which we purchase energy today.

In Alaska, we are progressing on the largest private-sector energy project in history. Our 3,000-mile natural gas pipeline will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America. We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.

Of course, Alaska is not the sole source of American energy. Many states have abundant coal, whose technology is continuously making it into a cleaner energy source. Westerners literally sit on mountains of oil and gas, and every state can consider the possibility of nuclear energy.

We have an important choice to make. Do we want to control our energy supply and its environmental impact? Or, do we want to outsource it to China, Russia and Saudi Arabia? Make no mistake: President Obama's plan will result in the latter.

For so many reasons, we can't afford to kill responsible domestic energy production or clobber every American consumer with higher prices.

Can America produce more of its own energy through strategic investments that protect the environment, revive our economy and secure our nation?

Yes, we can. Just not with Barack Obama's energy cap-and-tax plan.


The writer, a Republican, is governor of Alaska.

2 comments:

Greg said...

Just this one op/ed has really brought the foaming at the mouth PDS sufferers out in droves. The Boston Globe has a story about the op/ed (but not the op/ed itself) which is followed by almost 400 comments so far. Over half of them are from the foaming crowd. Over at the HuffPo Art Brodsky is fuming that she has no authority to write an opinion, and the WP has no right to publish it. Wow!! Maybe he is 0bama's new Opinion Czar.

If one op/ed can drive the loons this crazy, I'm hoping Gov. Palin follows it up real soon, like tomorrow, with her opinon on nationalized healtcare. It could be just the thing to cause many of them to have fatal strokes, maybe eliminating ten percent of 0bama's supporters.

It should also be noted that the Boston Globe comment board also has a significant number of Palin supporters joining in as well.

JamesD'Troy said...

Excellent column from Gov. Palin.

However, there are far greater implications for the Cap & Trade Tax(that's what it is, a tax) than just energy policy or its immediate impact on prices for individuals and US business. It relates to everything else that's gone on in the past 6 months.

For many years (especially the last 130 years), people came to America because the governments of their home countries did not reward hard work or entrepreneurship. America attracted the best and brightest, and benefitted greatly. We drained the brains out of governments too foolish to nurture the full potential of their best people.

Now if America itself becomes a place that is tough for the best and brightest, not only will new immigrants stop coming here, but many US-born people may leave to find a new country with lower tax rates. People can leave America for much the same reason they came.

What if, say, China sets up a 'special economic zone' that attracts branches of major US corporations, and where US expats are courted, and offered a life of low or even zero income tax, good schools, etc. all while working at the same US corporations, just out of the China division? Some Americans would go. A marginal tax rate of 0=12% vs. 50% or more in California or New York is hard to turn down.

Furthermore, remember that the top 1% of Americans pay 40% of taxes. If that 1% leaves for a greener pasture, won't revenue from income tax drop by 40%? What then?

Some smart country, somewhere in the world, will offer big incentives to over-taxed US private-sector people. Some will go. Many could go. That country will reap the biggest windfall ever. The US will effectively have scared away the geese that lay the golden eggs.