Cap and Trade

[Undertoad]

National Review finds 50 things to object to with Waxman-Markey

Good work by them. This one, for example, blew me away:

14. Naturally, Big Labor gets its piece of the pie, too. Projects receiving grants and financing under Waxman-Markey provisions will be required to implement Davis-Bacon union-wage rules, making it hard for non-union firms to compete — and ensuring that these "investments" pay out inflated union wages. And it’s not just the big research-and-development contracts, since Waxman-Markey forces union-wage rules all the way down to the plumbing-repair and light-bulb-changing level.

Why are union rules forced in a bill about cleaner energy?

From the looks of the 50, everyone who had lobbyists in Washington got a finger in the pie. The big energy companies all now support it because they get, basically, free money. Labor supports it because of the above.

Monsanto supports it because there are farming regulations that will promote weed growth, thus more need for Roundup herbicides in farming. I shit you not.

There are rules about televisions. Faucets. Candelabras. Nuclear energy is not counted as renewable. It continues the ethanol madness. It's full of corporate welfare.

This bill is a major fuck. If it passes, it will be the first thing to really anger me about Obama, because I did think he would make more of an effort to remove lobbying from the Washington culture. As of now, the lobbyists have won... they are more powerful than ever.