Hand Over Your Economy

The One 107 Comments

Or the economy gets it. Is there nothing that Obama can’t do?

The Obama administration is warning Congress that if it doesn’t move to regulate greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency will take a “command-and-control” role over the process in a way that could hurt business.
The warning, from a top White House economic official who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity, came on the eve of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s address to the international conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jackson, however, tried to strike a tone of cooperation in her address Wednesday, explaining that the EPA’s new powers to regulate greenhouse gases will be used to complement legislation pending in Congress, not replace it.
“This is not an ‘either-or’ moment. It’s a ‘both-and’ moment,” she said.
But while administration officials have long said they prefer Congress take action on climate change, the economic official who spoke with reporters Tuesday night made clear that the EPA will not wait and is prepared to act on its own.
And it won’t be pretty.
“If you don’t pass this legislation, then … the EPA is going to have to regulate in this area,” the official said. “And it is not going to be able to regulate on a market-based way, so it’s going to have to regulate in a command-and-control way, which will probably generate even more uncertainty.”

Those folks who stocked up on ammunition aren’t looking so crazy anymore.
Related – “I Spent 7.2B and All I got was EPA GHG Regulation”

107 Replies to “Hand Over Your Economy”

  1. Just acting like the true marxists they are. They don’t have to pretend they are something else anymore; they won the election.

  2. I have been harping on this since the election of 2008. 7.2B in Stimulus money writes tons of regulations and legal findings.
    I still also think EPA is a gift that keeps giving from the Admin, I notice Health care is back on track in the Senate as well.
    I just hope the Congress simply writes a one line bill that says HG regulation is the sole domain of the Congress because there is no immediate danger to public health, EPA was created by an act of congress and can be dissolved or amended just as easily. Then Pass it.
    That is all it would take to end this threat.

  3. Good news!
    Get ready for the avalance of private industry thats going to relocate to Canada.
    While the Obamination is regulating itself to economic death we’ll be selling to Asia.
    I take no pleasure in this, but they did bring it on themselves.

  4. I keep saying it … this is not a debate. IT IS A WAR for our very freedoms.
    How far will you go to protect your freedom and prosperity?

  5. The “Obama-Nation”(tm) EPA claims that CO2 is ‘gassing the planet’.
    Just another clever disguise for enviro-thugs to put their carbon boot to your wallet.
    It ain’t about “Saving the Planet” or some other such nonsense its about COMMAND AND CONTROL.
    COP15 is just another jacked up scheme similar to “Oil for Food” to support the dictators not of your choosing.
    The CO2 police will ensure that you freeze in the dark! But by then it will be too late to contact your favorite politician…if they haven’t been bought off yet.
    Cheers
    Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group “True North”

  7. Americans put an African in charge of the county and after just one year Presto! You have an African country.

  8. ‘Good news!. Get ready for the avalanche of private industry that’s going to relocate to Canada’.
    Part of post by: Doowleb at December 9, 2009 11:52 AM
    I have heard this statement from several different people.

  10. In my opinion, there will be blood shed over this yet.
    I have noticed here north of the border that our politicians seem to have selective hearing judging from the response I got back from Jim Prentice. Perhaps we need to have a Libertarian Party in Canada or at least western Canada.

  11. With any luck, the population of the US will not allow the EPA to dictate. The latest Rasmussen poll indicates 53% of Americans say the EPA should not be able to implement greenhouse gas regulations without congressional approval. The ruling on Monday could pave the way for the agency to impose its own regulations, something that just 24% say the federal agency should be able to without Congressional approval.
    In other words, the government is in for a show-down with their constituents. And it ain’t going to be pretty.

  12. Expect the EPA to double its budget.
    Alberta Environment has managed to grow, by moving into new areas of responsibility. That’s how government agencies become more powerful. Larger budgets mean more power.
    Corporate departments have the same philosophy. Health, safety, and environment now swings more control, within an oil company, than its drilling department. Everyone, and I mean everyone, within an oil company, has to get approval for any project, from their environmental department. Instead of being consulted to help make projects more environmentally friendly, they now have a say on whether a project gets off the ground.
    As you can imagine, this requires many more people to monitor the system. The extra bodies are mostly straight out of school, with no experience or knowledge, of business, physical work, or for that matter, the environment. What they have is an attitude they learned from their green-fanatic professors, and left leaning fellow students. They are now in total control of the business of making the economy function.
    I’m sort of glad my life in business is winding down, rather than just getting started.

  14. Way to go Obama! Hopefully he stands firm in this. The only way to address climate change is through forced measures that have polluters comply or be hit hard in the pocket book. Like it or not people cap and trade and carbon taxes will be a reality.

  16. What’s going to happen when it’s -40 and the Gubmint Man shows up to tell me to extinguish my woodstove. They are already hyping this idea in areas around Montreal and Toronto. I have 2 things to say to him, one about sex and the other about flying.

  17. “The latest Rasmussen poll indicates 53% of Americans say the EPA should not be able to implement greenhouse gas regulations without congressional approval. The ruling on Monday could pave the way for the agency to impose its own regulations, something that just 24% say the federal agency should be able to without Congressional approval.
    In other words, the government is in for a show-down with their constituents. And it ain’t going to be pretty.”
    While I think a lot more people have opened their eyes since the most blatant bait and switch in modern political history by Obama, I don’t think the numbers above represent any real threat of a popular revolt. At one point in 2009, the US Congress only had a 9% approval rating, but over 85% of the *%^&% were re-elected.

  18. Obama is just following the precident set by the Liberals in Canada. Co2 is already listed as a toxic substance in Canada under our own Federal Eviromental Regulations. Courtesy of the Liberals.

  20. Canada will not be a safe haven for American industry.
    It is unlikely that the U.S. is going to implement draconian greenhouse-gas measures without insisting that Canada do the same. The term “fair trade” will ring throughout Capital Hill.
    Presumably Prentice knows this full well, which may be why he’s willing to negotiate in Copenhagen.

  21. From ClimateAudit:
    Disconcerted at being left out of the recent Climategate publicity, Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island breathlessly blamed recent break-ins at the university’s climate center on shadowy fossil fuel groups. Weaver connected the break-ins to Britain’s Climategate, which IPCC officials have attributed to shadowy Russian secret agents. Weaver said that the shadowy group took a “dead” computer and ruffled his papers. Weaver said that the ruffling of his papers was “evidence of a larger effort to discredit climate science”.
    In other news from the University of Victoria, the Department of Anthropology issued an urgent warning about numerous break-ins throughout the campus, an excerpt from which folows:
    Subject: FW: Urgent/Campus break-ins
    Hello all,
    I’ve just learned that there have been a number of office and lab break-ins across campus in recent days–initially Science & Engineering buildings, but now Cornett & BEC. Psychology has had several offices and labs broken into, and last night there were break-ins in second-floor offices in BEC. Entry seems to be happening by jimmying/forcing locks.
    In the short term, you need to ensure that small, portable valuables are NOT LEFT IN YOUR OFFICES, particularly at night when the break-ins appear to have been happening. Consider what would happen to your teaching and research if your laptop went missing–back important files up today …
    Keep an eye open and report suspicious activity
    GCM (General Crime Modelers) believe that the break-ins at the Psychology Department at the University of Victoria are the proverbial “smoking gun” that proves the teleconnection between American fossil fuel interests and the Russian secret service, that resulted in Climategate.

  22. It is a measure of the arrogance modern DemocRats have that they think they can institute this carbon tax scam in the middle of an unemployment melt-down.
    How does the Obama regime enforce EPA regulations on an armed and informed populace? Will he dare use force the way Clinton did at Ruby Ridge and Waco?
    Remember those tea parties? They could get a lot bigger and a lot less peaceful pretty quick. Particularly when half the army and half the police forces show up -as protesters-.

  23. Until 2012 and we get another government change and the new government cracks down on the rogue department and guts it.
    At least we can pray for that.
    Boy, I’m really really praying that this president fails, now. Rush IS right!!

  24. wow, talk about overstepping the bounds of your power, Obama! Just like all the great tyrants throughout history, if you can’t get your way by following the rules, rewrite the rules.

  25. That should send the American debt clock into hyperdrive.
    Wonder if the display is big enough to show all those zeros?

  26. Leftard philosophy: Make it so. The end justifies the means. The constitution, legislation and due process is so passé you know. Amazing.

  27. All the sates have to do is grow some onions to tell this DC dictatorship to PO. 10th amendment baby!
    If the Whitehouse continues to expand its communitarian dictatorship in abeyance of the congress or senate, the states will revolt(except the socialist welfare basket cases the took the stimulus pork)
    It’s going to be a rocky ride for this Marxist regime to kill off the constitutional republic.

  28. Only a matter of time before O’s henchmen try to change the constitution and install a Pres for Life, IMHO. But they’ll be sneaky about it.

  30. Yesterday 141 top climatology researchers signed a document that basically said climate change is a lie, and climitegate is just the tip of the iceberg. You would think that should make front page news.

  32. The climate alarmists are banking on one thing –
    The Lie Is Too Big To Fail.
    Our Politicians took a look at the financial bubble caused by the fraudsters (derivatives, asset backed securities, easy mortagages ect), and said
    “Holy smokes !! This thing is too big too fail, we have to bail them out. We will pick the winners and losers”
    Same thing with climate alarmism.
    If the Politicians do not bail out the Lie, a lot of banks will go down again because some of their collateral will be worthless.
    Like really, people !! … with carbon dioxide regaining its rightful status as ‘non-poisonous’, how will this affect the value of;
    windmills ?
    solar panels ?
    the sierra club ?
    biofuels ?
    david suzuli foundation ?
    hybrid vehicles ?
    squigley light bulbs ?
    the pembina institute ?
    Al Gore ?
    major media organizations ?
    carbon credit futures exchanges ?
    Write off all of the above and it would indeed be quite a hit to the economy. No sitting Prime Minister or President wants to be the one to pull the plug – even if they believe it should be.
    But it will be pulled – one way or another. Sooner or later.

  33. Yes, I think the politicians as prime-emitters of hot air & Co2, and bureaucrats, and the green-weenies ditto, should do their parts and hold their breath for 2 hours as an example to the rest of us.
    I’d be happy to assist by donating a used dry cleaning bag and some fresh duct tape to the cause if they are having trouble.

  35. Ohhhh-kayyyy.
    To all the surprised posters here (and you – the one hiding behind Prentice and his crack negotiating team – yes YOU), lets go over some facts:
    1. CO2 is virtually immeasurable outside of a controlled environment. 350 ppm (parts per million) isn’t exactly alot of gas, ok?
    2. Smokestack emissions are expensive to measure, let alone measuring mitigation
    3. Compliance measurement is virtually impossible in the absence of personnel, or robust verification mechanisms
    4. Abatement and enhancements are likely only to be performed by proxy (you may have heard that word somewhere…)
    So, where are we?
    The only direct control a government has over a revenue stream is via the legality of a substance. It’s all about lockdown and control – a custom stamp, and bureaucrats and officials standing at the factory gates measuring daily production (please see     noun: ‘distillery’).
    The only way forward for any Carbon Tax (ETS) is through control of the molecule – or substance – at the base of the tax. This incidence is when such a substance is created, consumed, or disposed. Ever heard of prohibition? Wonder why hemp is a controlled substance? Marijuana? A T4 slip? Get the idea?
    Because tax revenues that fuel government and its’ insatiable appetite for growth, all come from control of the underlying commodity. As with CO2, all those peeps in Dopenhagen right now are discussing the commodification of carbon dioxide, and the attendant mechanisms that will induce and attach tax upon incidence. In this case: creation, consumption, disposal.
    The only way this can be done is by government’s control of the molecule. Canada will come around – because of the whole ‘fair share’ part. Some cheaters will be found, and they’ll be a great case for further government expansion.
    Who exactly was driving the turnip truck most of you just fell off?

  36. Today in London, Al Gore said, …..”The entire north polar ice cap is melting before our very eyes. Mountain glaciers are melting rapidly in places all over the world with record storms, droughts, floods, fires and sea level increase.”
    Today in Alert, Nunavut, their most northerly point, it is -32C.
    Damn, there must be some kind of science I missed way back in school……Has Al Gore invented a new melting point for ice?

  38. Peter — where did you find out about the 141 climate researchers signing the fraud document? I would be interested in knowing more.

  41. aaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! (please don’t forget to try the new beer named after me)

  42. Illiquid Assets at December 9, 2009 11:50 AM
    The EPA was not created by an act of Congress. It was created by an Executive Order signed by…wait for it…Richard Nixon. See: “Reorganization Plan No. 3”

  43. “The science is so settled it’s now perfectly routine for leaders of the developed world to go around sounding like apocalyptic madmen of the kind that used to wander the streets wearing sandwich boards and handing out homemade pamphlets.”
    – Mark Steyn

  44. Agreed Ron. In the past I spoke of the “green bubble” and its inevitable fate. There will be a time when people/countries realize they are paying way above market value for energy. It’s when reality hits, that this nonsense will stop, or should I say pop?
    I also mentioned that SP could take Climategate to an “apocalyptic” level with one statement. Ironically the MSM has decided to ramp down their coverage of SP and her comments on Copenhagen.
    Were I SP’s adviser I would recommend that she speak to at least two issues at once when addressing AGW. Discuss social conservative issues along with AGW and force the MSM to either cover her because of her “anti-progressive” views on social issues, or ignore her because of her views on AGW.

  46. Stand with Israel.
    …-
    “Netanyahu cancels trip to Copenhagen climate conference
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled his planned trip next week to the Copenhagen summit on climate change.
    Aides to Netanyahu said the reason for the cancellation was the high expense that would be borne by the taxpayer.
    Summit organizers foot the bill for hosting heads of state and an entourage that is limited to six individuals. However, due to the extensive security detail that accompanies visiting prime ministers, Netanyahu aides said the cost for the visit would be excessive.
    Sources close to the premier added that conference organizers required that the Israeli delegation reserve hotel rooms for a minimum of one week, while Netanyahu had no intention of staying in Copenhagen for longer than two nights.
    In such a scenario, dozens of hotel rooms would remain empty and paid for at a cost of tens of thousands of euros.
    Netanyahu’s bureau added that the premier’s tight schedule precluded a prolonged stay in Copenhagen.
    (Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com …”
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403873/posts

  47. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
    Things could get very warm indeed for our American cousins.

  48. This will backfire. The EPA will draw a huge amount of fire from business, AGW skeptics and politicians. Business will complain that they cannot make the promised cap and trade profits, skeptics will file lawsuits, State and Congressional politicians will chafe at the power grab. The EPAs databases and e-mails will be forced open and thoroughly examined. In the end, the EPA may not just lose the CO2 battle but also lose in areas like watershed management and endangered wildlife protection. The public and politicians may permanently neuter the EPA’s powers to prevent future overreaches – you know, the precautionary principle.

  49. Thanks, hardboiled — and Peter for mentioning the open letter. Wow, just wow! A thought provoking letter and an impressive list of signers. If ONLY climate science was what this was about. Indeed this letter will be ignored by the MSM. I just have to wonder though, how many in the MSM wonder themselves about just what is going on.

  50. I join in the recommendation to read the open letter by the 141 climate scientists first recommended by ‘peter’. One link was provided by hardboiled. A second one is here:
    http://www.globalwarminghoax.com/comment.php?comment.news.123.1
    The scientists take a safe position by stating that the science is NOT settled and that the responsibility of proof is on the other side. It is an impressive list of international contributors.

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