Cap and Trade, Trade and Vote, Americans Still Pay the Price

Trading favors for votes? Say it ain't so. Oh, wait, I forget. This is business as usual in Washington.

Another interesting story on cap and trade and the behind the scenes scramble to protect some states and not others has been published. It doesn't seem fair that some states would have to shoulder more of the national energy tax than others. Actually, the cap and trade really doesn't make any sense at all for future economic growth. In fact, the proposed new energy tax that Americans won't be able to deduct will dearly cost us all.


To get votes, Waxman offers cap-and-trade breaks
By: SUSAN FERRECHIO

n exchange for votes to pass a controversial global warming package, Democratic leaders are offering some lawmakers generous emission “allowances” to protect their districts from the economic pain of pollution restrictions......http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/To-get-votes-Waxman-offers-cap-and-trade-breaks_04_24-43592342.html

So Make it Transparent for the Public

All this nonstop chatter from the Obama Administration has just got to stop. If the differences in his plan are really so minor as he keeps insisting on the main stream media interviews, then why doesn't he compromise? Or is it because it's not his package, but rather that of Pelosi and company?

Here's a thought. Make any federal money going out really transparent and allow the public to track it.

New National Poll Finds Strong, Bipartisan Demand for Transparency in Economic Recovery Package

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An overwhelming majority of voters want full and open reporting on how Recovery Act funds are spent at federal and state levels, according to a nationwide survey conducted last week on behalf of the Coalition for an Accountable Recovery. Further, roughly eight in ten voters say that making the U.S. government more accountable and more open to average citizens should be a high priority for the new administration; four out of ten said it is "one of the most important priorities.".....
http://statenationalpolitics.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-national-poll-finds-strong.html

Illicit Financial Woes

An interesting study on illegal cash flowing out of developing regions like the Middle East and Northern Africa has been released. Crime, corruption and tax evasion seem to rule the day.

Obama plans to tackle global poverty. Will he begin by stopping crime and corruption in the Middle East? Or will he stop the crime and corruption in Washington? But wait, he's never been known as a fighter of crime. Just look at his American home state and his record there.

....."Illicit financial flows siphon revenue out of poor countries, robbing them of much-needed assets and forestalling economic development," said GFI director Raymond Baker. "These new figures reveal that illicit financial flows outpace ODA by a ratio of nearly 10 to 1. This is critical to understanding global poverty and developing effective poverty alleviation and economic development strategies," Baker said......

Click to read the story.