Industry Study: Cap and Trade Could Create 2 Million Jobs, Add 2.4% GDP Growth to Baseline Growth

Did I say create and add? I meant destroy.

Close enough for Gibbsy to spin.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) released a study Wednesday that found under a high-cost scenario the House global warming bill could reduce economic growth by 2.4 percent and cost 2 million jobs by 2030.

Environmentalists were quick to criticize the study for underselling the development of climate-friendly sources of power...

Asinine. The gold standard -- which will never be attained -- is to get these "new sources of power" as cheap as real sources of power. And in that fantasy outcome, it would be a wash.

I love how they talk about all the "new jobs" green power will create. Yes, you will have more people working to produce less of the same commodity.

In other words, you will be paying more for less. We will have "more jobs" just the same as if we took any other efficient industry and forced it to be as inefficient and costly as possible -- we'd add tons of manpower we previously had no use for.

They sell this as a good thing. Indeed, it's every bit as good as the UAW insisting on jamming 15 guys on a production line when 10 will do the best job.

Just as good. We can create millions of jobs by going to an habitrail-wheel energy production system, just paying millions of people to jog in giant hamster wheels to drive turbines.

I will let you ponder what will happen to your energy bill -- and all other employment.

But the business groups’ figures will likely provide opponents of capping carbon more ammunition and could add to the angst of senators from industrial states. One key finding is that the climate bill will hurt the manufacturing sector particularly hard. As much as 66 percent of the total job loss from the climate bill could come from manufacturers, the report notes.

And though the impact of the bill will grow over time, the economy will start feeling the effects of the carbon cap almost immediately.

“Industrial production begins to decline immediately in 2012, relative to the baseline,” the report notes.

"You mean make them slaves?" Flash Gordon asked.

"They will learn to be contented with less," Ming the Merciless explained.

posted by Ace at 05:11 PM

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