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Hernando Today

Go Kiss a polar Bear

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Hernando Today

Published: October 28, 2009

Guest Columnist Glen Besa tried to paint the energy and climate bill called Cap and Trade as a legislative thing of beauty and a joy to behold. "By capping and trading carbon emission we can reduce the greenhouse gasses that cause global warming" he claims! Having accomplished this, the sun will shine, the birds will sing and all will be right with the world.

In the most simplistic terms that even a idiot like me can understand, Mr. Besa goes on to explain how cap and trade works. Example company "A" reduces their carbon output by 2% and gets a scajillion carbon credits which it then sells to example company "B" who cannot reduce their carbon output. What he doesn't tell us is that company "B" then passes on the cost of those carbon credits to the people who purchase their product. If company "B" is your electric company, President Obama promises your bill will only go up by 30%! Now, given his track record, I know how hard it is to believe anything this President promises, and your bill will probably double as will the cost of everything else you purchase whose production is energy dependant (which is actually everything else you purchase), but for the sake of this discussion let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume your spendable income will ONLY be reduced by 30%. I'm so happy it gives me goosebumps!

Another thing he forgot to tell you is that companies "C", "D" and "E" along with the rest of the alphabetic example companies, if located in India and China, will not be capping and trading along with us (those #@%ing spoilsports) and so the net carbon emission savings will be nil, nada, niente, nothing! However, everything you buy will suddenly get more expensive. We won't go into the job losses that will go with this exercise in futility at this time.

Don't get me wrong, getting the air a little cleaner is a good thing, but how much, in these troubles times, are you willing to pay for it?

As for global warming, he cites that 75% of Americans believe in climate change. Again he forgets to point out which way the climate is changing. There are strongly conflicting views on this subject but the latest stats are beginning to show a cooling trend in most climates for the last 9 years. But, he's right about one thing....25% of the population aren't quite certain which planet they're on.

Do us a favor Mr. Besa, if you can't tell it to us straight and true with all the facts, don't tell us at all. If you have too much time on your hands go save a whale, hug a tree or better yet go kiss a polar bear!

Tom Cannariato

Weeki Wachee

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