Just what Barack Obama’s weak high-unemployment economy needs: a huge spike in energy prices! The Daily Caller gets the bad news, not from a conservative think tank, but from the Administration itself. Which means, of course, they’re probably under-selling how bad it will be:
An Obama administration official has said that the new clean coal rules could increase electricity prices by as much as 80 percent.
Dr. Julio Friedmann, the deputy assistant secretary for clean coal at the Department of Energy, told House lawmakers that the first generation of carbon capture and storage technology would increase wholesale electricity prices by “70 or 80 percent.”
This is all part of our compulsory tithe to the official religion of the United States, the Church of Global Warming. No price is too high to pay for ineffective action against this imaginary threat! I hasten to remind everyone about to get punched in the gut by these higher prices that it might be the only part of his agenda Barack Obama was actually honest about. He did explicitly state in 2008 that he was going to drive coal out of business and jack up energy prices. Obama voters are advised they can save money on those electric bills by burning their faded posters of the Great Man for warmth. Transcripts of his speeches produce a lot of hot air when burned, too.
Well, maybe the electric companies can keep consumer prices down by increasing production….?
Friedmann added that these high costs could not be made up by power companies through increased production volumes.
Great. Thanks for the prognosis, Dr. Doom.
“In typical EPA fashion, they’re putting the cart before the horse to advance their environmental policy agenda,” said Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter. “They’re moving forward with a controversial rule to regulate carbon based on technology that isn’t commercially available. Not only is this wrongheaded, it’s beyond the scope of their legal authority.”
Democrats, however, argue that the mandate for coal plants to use CCS is necessary because power providers would not adopt the costly technology on their own.
That’s the reason for every mandate. You don’t need laws to force people to do things that actually make sense. Compelling the unwilling is a lot more profitable for tyrants than applauding free choices. It’s quaint of Senator Vitter to bring up the “scope of legal authority” when asking if the EPA actually has the power to do this. That’s so 2008 of him.
If you were already worried about declining real income and hidden inflation, you might expect a spike in energy prices to have an unpleasant ripple effect on the cost of many other goods and services. Maybe Obama will do a little TV appearance where he wears a sweater and tells everyone to shut off their electric heat and get accustomed to the cold. It wasn’t really fair that so many Americans could afford to be toasty warm while much of the world is shivering.
Say, if ObamaCare increasing unemployment is supposed to be a good thing because it frees people from “job lock” so they can pursue their dreams, what’s an 80 percent increase in their electric bills going to do to them? How about the people who followed Obama’s earlier gospel and bought electric cars?
Maybe we’re thinking about energy the wrong way. Pre-industrial civilization was noted for high employment – you worked or you starved. Once the EPA makes electricity to run their machines unaffordable, greedy business owners should go back to hiring more people. Menial work is steady work. A boom in the firewood-chopping industry can’t be far off. Maybe lamp oil will make a comeback. The Obama Administration isn’t hamstringing a great industrial power… it’s preparing to unleash the greatest pre-industrial economy the world has ever seen!
