Obama introduces cap and trade scheme in budget

I was browsing over at Nice Deb and found this story about the budget that really upset me. I am really beginning to fear for the future of the American economy. I don’t think we can handle all of these bad decisions in such a short period. We may be looking at a new Depression.

Nice Deb cites this article from Human Events as follows:

The Department of Energy estimates that S. 2191, the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade proposal, will increase the cost of coal for power generation by between 161% and 413%. DOE estimates GDP losses (see chart) over the 21-year period they forecast, at between $444 billion and $1.308 trillion, with particular damage to the manufacturing sector…

Winegarden estimates that this bill could increase unemployment by 2.7% or about 4 million jobs. In fact, companies are already preparing to avoid increased level and volatility of American energy prices by setting up factories and partnerships in countries which won’t be subject to cap-and-trade restrictions…

In addition, we can expect 1 trillion dollars in new taxes. Here are the individual tax hikes from an ABC News article that Nice Deb links to in her post:

On people making more than $250,000:

$338 billion – Bush tax cuts expire
$179 billlion – eliminate itemized deduction
$118 billion – capital gains tax hike

Here are some of the tax hikes on businesses from the same post. I picked the ones that are specifically going to affect energy production.

$5.3 billion – excise tax on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
$3.4 billion – repeal expensing of tangible drilling costs
$62 million – repeal deduction for tertiary injectants
$49 million – repeal passive loss exception for working interests in oil and natural gas properties
$13 billion – repeal manufacturing tax deduction for oil and natural gas companies
$1 billion – increase to 7 years geological and geophysical amortization period for independent producers

Oil and gas? Isn’t that what people use to heat their homes and power their vehicles?

UPDATE: The Anchoress says that the price hikes on individuals making $250,000 or more also apply to small businesses, as well as individuals! Bye-bye jobs!