NYTIMES: OBAMA'S CARBON GAMBLE WILL COST CONSUMERS $65 BILLION A YEAR

NYTIMES: News Analysis: Obama’s Greenhouse Gas Gamble

WASHINGTON — In proposing mandatory caps on the greenhouse gases linked to global warming and a system for auctioning permits to companies that emit them, President Obama is taking on a huge political and economic challenge.

Business lobbies and many Republicans raised loud objections to the cap-and-trade program Mr. Obama proposed as part of his budget this week, saying the plan amounted to a gigantic and permanent tax on oil, electricity and manufactured goods, a shock they said the country could not handle during economic distress.

Green groups and supportive members of Congress applauded, saying the proposal was long overdue after eight years of inaction on climate change under President George W. Bush. The costs, they said, would not begin to bite until at least 2012.

But the full costs and benefits of controlling greenhouse gas emissions remain unknown, and perhaps unknowable. While there is rough consensus on the science of global warming — with some notable and vocal objectors — there is less agreement on the economics of the problem and very little on the policy prescriptions to address it. And while a cap-and-trade approach bears substantial cost, it also brings a benefit whose value is incalculable — a steady decrease in emissions that scientists say will over time reduce the risk of climate catastrophe.

Mr. Obama’s budget estimates $645 billion in cap-and-trade revenue over the next 10 years that will largely be paid by oil, electric power and heavy industries that produce the majority of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for the warming of the planet. Many of these costs are expected to be passed on to consumers.

REPEAT:

the full costs and benefits of controlling greenhouse gas emissions remain unknown, and perhaps unknowable ... these costs are expected to be passed on to consumers.

REPEAT:

the full costs and benefits of controlling greenhouse gas emissions remain unknown, and perhaps unknowable ... these costs are expected to be passed on to consumers.

REPEAT:

the full costs and benefits of controlling greenhouse gas emissions remain unknown, and perhaps unknowable ... these costs are expected to be passed on to consumers.

IT'S INSANE TO MANDATE $65 BILLION IN NEW COSTS WITH NO PROVABLE BENEFIT.

IN-FUCKING-SANE.