Bad goals render bad results. Climate change is a bad goal. This country succeeded for over 200 years with a goal of growth and prosperity. Let’s go back to those goals and drop the climate change goal. We can keep cap and trade, just tweak it a bit.
If you don’t contribute something to the GDP in a year you have to buy a productivity credit. I would exempt firemen, policemen, the military, people over age 65 and under 18,full-time students, and a stay at home parent.
This would put a heavy burden on politicians, government workers, professors, idle rich, union leaders, professional environmentalists, and bums. It would incent adding to the progress of the country. The cost of the productivity credits would be based on achieving goals. If the GDP grew by 3% the costs would be less then at 2% growth.
Basically, this would be structured to encourage people to aid productivity, not create roadblocks. It’s just the opposite of how things work now. Or, don’t work. Under today’s system if you want to build a new plant you have to deal with years of red tape. Under my system if the red tapers don’t cut the tape for you, it comes right out of their pocket, not yours.
Under my system the money flows from citizens who don’t add to the growth and prosperity of the country to those who do. Probably fewer people would covet those jobs that have to pay for credits and try to get jobs where you get paid.
So, unlike the proposed Lieberman Warner cap and trade, where the people who are adding productivity to the country have to pay money to those who aren’t, this is just the opposite. Lieberman and Warner would have to buy productivity credits themselves and the money would go to oil field workers and people building new nuclear power plants. Lieberman and Warner would be out of office under my plan. Maybe they would be old enough to be exempt from buying credits. And, this version would be managed by the private sector, not the government. That way, the people running it can get productivity credits, not buy them.
So, do I get your vote for my version of cap and trade?
