It starts with lines like "you'll actually make money from these climate policies..."
American Spectator (12/19/21) op-ed: "Like mushrooms after a rain, new pro-carbon tax youth groups are sprouting before our very eyes. Unlike wild mushrooms, however, this growth is anything but organic. The latest iteration, High Schoolers for Carbon Dividends, joins Students for Carbon Dividends and Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends. Each draws its framework from the so-called Baker-Shultz plan, which would tax oil, natural gas, and coal at a clip of $40 per ton of carbon emission and dole out the proceeds in the form of cash payments that it calls carbon dividends...This wouldn’t be surprising, since while almost everyone hates the idea of paying more for gasoline, electricity, and heat, they might be willing to come around on the idea if it includes the corresponding promise of free cash. The problem here is that it abandons the economic case that gives a carbon tax legs in the first place. The essential aim of taxing an externality is to achieve better economic efficiency by internalizing the cost of our actions. If we’re going to correct that alleged inefficiency, the bulk of the literature shows that the sensible way to do it wouldn’t be through the lump-sum payments these groups call a carbon dividend, but rather through the reduction of costly taxes elsewhere, such as payroll taxes. This conclusion has been reached by pro-tax groups (like the Alliance for Market Solutions), by agnostic groups (like the Tax Foundation), and by tax-skeptical groups (like my own, the Institute for Energy Research)."
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And it ends with choosing between food or a heated home.
Scotsman (12/19/21) reports: "Polling by YouGov on behalf of Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) found 36 per cent of people find their bills unaffordable. Some 54 per cent of these said they have had to reduce household expenditure at least once to afford bills. Asked to identify what spending was cut back, 56 per cent of these people said groceries. Based on the latest population estimate for over 18s in Scotland, CAS said this would work out at around 483,255 people. The charity is releasing the figures as part of its Big Energy Saving Winter' campaign, which is encouraging people to seek advice to manage soaring energy bills...'An estimated half a million people are cutting back on their weekly food shop to afford soaring energy bills, and this should have alarm bells ringing.'"
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"My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face."
– Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV)
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