Obama's "Cap and Trade" Energy Plan Will Cost Jobs

A quick look at the details of the Energy Plan working its way through Congress shows that Obama's energy plan will cost jobs. Please consider Energy job losers could get windfall.

Workers who lose their jobs if the pending climate change legislation becomes law could get a weekly paycheck for up to three years, subsidies to find new work and other generous benefits -- all courtesy of Uncle Sam -- under a little-noticed provision of the bill.

Touted by its House Democratic authors as a jobs engine, the bill offers extraordinary compensation for those who would lose their paycheck as a consequence of its passage.

Adversely affected employees in oil, coal and other fossil-fuel sector jobs would qualify for a weekly check worth 70 percent of their current salary for up to three years. In addition, they would get $1,500 for job-search assistance and $1,500 for moving expenses from the bill's "climate change worker adjustment assistance" program, which is expected to cost $4.2 billion from 2011 to 2019.

The bill passed the House a week ago in a hotly contested 219-212 vote, with supporters arguing that a principal reason to support the bill is that it would create millions of new jobs. But analyses from the political left and right argue that potentially millions of jobs in industries tied to traditional fossil fuels would be lost and, at least initially, not enough "green" jobs would be created to replace them.

"Can you name another jobs-creation bill that was so concerned about its potential impact that it preemptively included a benefits' program for the millions of workers it expected to displace?" asked Chris Tucker, a spokesman for the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-oil industry independent think tank.

While the analyses assume displaced workers will eventually find jobs, the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution predicts a net job loss of 0.5 percent over the first 10 years that carbon reduction legislation, called "cap-and-trade," is in effect. The conservative Heritage Foundation found that by 2030 net job losses would top 1.1 million, while the Coalition for Affordable American Energy, an industry group, estimates that more than 3 million jobs would be lost by 2030 as a result of the cap-and-trade system.

All Pain, No Gain

Government interference like this always costs jobs. The plan is a complete boondoggle. The provision to give displaced workers 70% of their salaries is downright disgusting. Who else gets guarantees like that?

Moreover, the plan is ripe for graft. Anyone who loses a job for any reason will be blaming the "cap-and-trade" legislation. At 70% pay, many will be hoping they lose their jobs.

Inquiring minds will want to investigate an excellent writeup on the subject called Cap and Trade and the Illusion of the New Green Economy on Prison Planet.

Contact Your Senators

"Cap-And-Trade" legislation has already passed the House. The only hope at this point is the Senate. There is a Senate Contact List in Speak Out - Audit the Fed, Then End It! You can also get Phone, Fax, and Email numbers from the Online Directory for the 111th Congress.

Please contact your senators today and stop this boondoggle. Tell them you do not support this bill outright, and you especially do not support 70% pay for those who lose their jobs. If the bill is supposed to gain jobs such provisions are not needed and will be ripe for graft.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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