URGENT- ACTION CALL-PLEASE
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS
CAP AND TRADE LEGISLATION-THREAT
IMMINENT!!
July 14,
2008
 Before
his election as the 44th President, we wrote many
scathing comments about Barack Obama. We said
that if he was elected he would try to force socialism
down our throats. He called it "redistribution."
The American Heritage Dictionary defines socialism
as a system of social disorganization in which
the means of producing and distributing goods
are owned by a centralized government that plans
and controls the economy. Both Webster and Random
House identify socialism as a "Marxist theory."
In his first address to Congress
President Obama said "Send me legislation that
places a market-based cap on carbon pollution."
Rep. Henry Waxman and Rep. Edward Markey went
along with his plea and cosponsored" The American
Clean Energy and Security Act." He and his allies
have tried to sell this bill as a "market-based
approach" to reducing emissions. This approach
is very misleading. Cap-and –Trade subordinates
markets to central planning. It takes the most
important economic decisions out of the hands
of private individuals acting in the marketplace
and puts them in the hands of government. We certainly
know President Obama approves of central planning,
but even he must agree that most centrally-planned
economies collapsed toward the end of the last
century. The only countries that are both models
of economies that have low, indeed negligible,
greenhouse- gas emissions are Cuba and North Korea!
Both paragons of a free society!!
This bill is a monstrous tax
hike, an unprecedented energy tax on every man,
woman, and child, every household, every business.
In fact, we believe it will be the largest tax
hike in history. It will have a huge impact on
the future of sustained economic growth. It does
this simply by making energy, the lifeblood of
our economy, much more scarce and expensive.
President Obama and Vice President
Biden would say that United Small Business is
using "fear mongering." We say to our
critics that we are using "fact mongering."
We believe the facts have to be put on the table
for the voting public and put on the desks of
the Senate. This bill and others planned have
given us a glimpse into the "looking glass"
of what America will look like with this type
of legislation: trillions of dollars in debt,
asphyxiating free markets and diluting forms of
capitalism. By the way, the leader for this type
of legislation was the late Kenneth Lay, Chairman
of the Enron Corporation!!
Last month, Energy Secretary
Steven Cho told a House panel "that the United
States would likely have to raise trade tariffs
on carbon-intensive imports as a weapon to protect
American business to level the playing field with
countries that don't impose similar greenhouse-gas
restrictions that the Obama administration envisions
here." He also testified "if other countries
don't impose a cost of carbon then we will
be at a disadvantage…(and) we would look
at duties that would offset that cost." These
comments provoked an immediate counter threat
from Ei Gao, who is a top Chinese trade official.
He said "That a carbon tariff would be a
disaster that would lead to a trade war."
The White House Office of Management
and Budget Director Peter Orszag said "much
of the costs of the plan will be passed along
to consumers in the form of much higher prices
for energy and energy intensive goods." My
alma mater, the United States Chamber of Commerce,
puts the cost at $3600 per year. President Obama
has promised to offset some of these costs with
some sort of tax credit, but everyone would still
pay significant amounts of money above and beyond
the credit.
Myron Ebell, Director of Energy
and Global-Warming Policy at the Competitive Enterprise
Institute said "Rep. Henry Waxman and Rep.
Edward Markey have blithely set targets for reducing
greenhouse-gas emissions without any serious analysis
or even awareness of the colossal costs of energy
rationing to American consumers, workers and industry."
Mr. Ebell also said "Beyond these enormous
economic costs, Waxman-Markey would put big government
in charge of how much energy people can use. It
would be the biggest government intervention in
peoples' lives since the Second World War,
which was the last time people had to have rationing
coupons in order to buy a gallon of gas."
Tell your Senators to consider
seriously the threat to our liberties posed by
putting government on charge of how much and what
type of energy we can consume. Let your Senators
know in advance that if they vote for this legislation
they will pay a heavy price when they are up for
reelection! Please pass this action call on to
your employees and let us know of any suppliers
or business entities you want us to contact and
as usual send us a copy of your correspondence
to your Senators.
Thank you in advance,
Mal Lunn
Malcolm Lunn
Chairman of the Board
United Small Business of America
United Small
Business
Proclaming Liberty to America's Small Business
P O Box 3132 St. Charles, IL 60174 - unitedsmallbus1@aol.com
Phone - 877/ 535-4 USB Fax - 877/ 722-4USB
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