PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Newsletter
Senator Specter was wrong on Card Check; we hope he won't be wrong on Lieberman-Warner a $1.2 trillion dollar tax.
A Green Flat Tax
If you like $130 a barrel oil and $4 a gallon gas, you will love the global warming bill sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman and John Warner. There are a lot of reasons to oppose Lieberman-Warner, but one that hasn't gotten much attention is its cap and trade initiative, which is a massive hidden tax on energy use.
Larry Kudlow of CNBC calls the cap and trade initiative "Cap and Kill the Economy." Cap and trade reduces carbon emissions by capping total emissions and then requiring industry to pay for the additional carbon they use through a trading system. Lieberman-Warner would raise about $1.2 trillion over the next decade, according to the Senate Budget Committee. Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire says the costs per consumer could reach $400 a year for the next 40 years.
Senator Gregg is one of the first Republicans to ask the question: "What are we going to do with the revenue?" Democrats have made it clear that they intend to use the money for spending on pet liberal programs, such as alternative energy and home heating subsidies to compensate for the higher fuel costs that their own bill creates.
Senator Gregg wants to use the revenue to reduce taxes. Last week on the Senate floor he said: "I believe that since we're basically creating a consumption tax and shifting the burden of the government significantly onto the user of electricity, especially the homeowner, they should receive a reduction in taxes. If you are going to shift what amounts to a $1.2 trillion increase in consumption taxes, you ought to use the revenues to reduce income taxes to working Americans by pretty much an equal amount."
In the House, Republican Representative Paul Ryan tells me that he wants to use the cap and trade money as "a down payment on tax reform." The anti-growth elements of cap and trade would be offset by the pro-growth dynamics of lower income tax rates. Call it a green flat tax.
"We can't allow the left to spend $1 trillion over the next decade," Mr. Ryan says. This should become the Republican bottom line in negotiating on cap and
trade: Offset a penny raised in taxes by a penny cut in taxes.
Military Engages Alternative Energy
As many may recall, the Internet started as a Pentagon initiative to solve a particular problem of coordinating communications between various universities, and now the US military has engaged alternative fuels. This gives me reason to hope. Rather than dreamy and phony greens, who are anti free market, anti consumer and anti bourgeois, the military has a goal and a job to do. Failing means defeat and death. Very real world consequences to mistakes. It is truly amazing, and encouraging, to see the long range thinking that the military does.
Key sentences in " U.S. Military Launches Alternative-Fuel Push": The Defense Department's overall energy bill was $13.6 billion in 2006, the latest figure available -- almost 25% higher than the year before. The Air Force's bill for jet fuel alone has tripled in the past four years. When the White House submitted its latest budget request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it tacked on a $2 billion surcharge for rising fuel costs.
With the B-1 certified to fly on the synthetic mix, Maj. Donald Rhymer, the deputy director of the Air Force's alternative-fuels certification office, said the Air Force would soon test fighters such as its workhorse F-16.
"Our biggest litmus test was Capt. Fournier coming out of the B-1 and saying that it was an unremarkable flight," Maj. Rhymer said as the meeting ended. "That's the subjective endorsement we're looking for with all of the planes."
Plugged-in Hybrids and Battery Technology
Ahead of the curve, we drew your attention to WSJ business articles on Japanese auto makers plans to mass market plugged in hybrids. Here is more that you won't see in the Inquirer or local newspapers in southeast Pennsylvania. With respect to Israel's mass marketing of plugged-in hybrids, I draw your attention to Project Better Place, an innovative company focused on building massive scale Electric Recharge Grids as infrastructure supporting the deployment of electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrids) in countries around the world. When a driver travels long-distance, he can swap batteries at an exchange station to get a fully charged battery, similar to how he now stops to fill his gas tank today. The Project was started by Shai Agassi on October 29th, 2007.
Key sentences in Nissan, NEC Set Electric-car batteries for '09
Nissan and partner Renault SA plan to offer an all-electric car in the U.S. and Japan by 2010 and globally in 2012. Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp. and about a dozen other rivals are rushing to mass-produce their own lithium-ion batteries for the next generation of green vehicles.
Lithium-ion batteries - the type used in laptop computers and cellphones - are considered the most promising battery for electric cars because they pack twice the power of conventional nickel-metal hydride batteries and can be charged again and again
Nissan has involved various governments in encouraging the use of electric vehicles. It plans to mass market electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark starting in 2011, taking advantage of government programs such as widespread battery-recharging stations and tax incentives for consumers. Renault and Nissan are negotiating to establish similar partnerships in other countries.
PA EITC
The PA Education Improvement Tax Credits are a way to fund alternatives to government schools. Dollars Follows Scholars and PA School Choice. One size does not fit all and government schools may not always be best venue for your child. School Competition and Parental Choice are keys not only to better quality.
For more information, go to: Dollars Follows Scholars
