Your Questions About Save Energy Ohio

Did you know that Obama is planning to tax the working class to give to the rich and politically connected?

Barack Obama’s Cap and Trade is a Tax on the working class

Who Pays for Cap and Trade? Hint: They were promised a tax cut during the Obama campaign.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123655590609066021.html

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Politicians love cap and trade because they can claim to be taxing “polluters,” not workers. Hardly. Once the government creates a scarce new commodity — in this case the right to emit carbon — and then mandates that businesses buy it, the costs would inevitably be passed on to all consumers in the form of higher prices. Stating the obvious, Peter Orszag — now Mr. Obama’s budget director — told Congress last year that “Those price increases are essential to the success of a cap-and-trade program.”

Hit hardest would be the “95% of working families” Mr. Obama keeps mentioning, usually omitting that his no-new-taxes pledge comes with the caveat “unless you use energy.” Putting a price on carbon is regressive by definition because poor and middle-income households spend more of their paychecks on things like gas to drive to work, groceries or home heating.

The Congressional Budget Office — Mr. Orszag’s former roost — estimates that the price hikes from a 15% cut in emissions would cost the average household in the bottom-income quintile about 3.3% of its after-tax income every year. That’s about $680, not including the costs of reduced employment and output. The three middle quintiles would see their paychecks cut between $880 and $1,500, or 2.9% to 2.7% of income. The rich would pay 1.7%. Cap and trade is the ideal policy for every Beltway analyst who thinks the tax code is too progressive (all five of them).

But the greatest inequities are geographic and would be imposed on the parts of the U.S. that rely most on manufacturing or fossil fuels — particularly coal, which generates most power in the Midwest, Southern and Plains states. It’s no coincidence that the liberals most invested in cap and trade — Barbara Boxer, Henry Waxman, Ed Markey — come from California or the Northeast.

Coal provides more than half of U.S. electricity, and 25 states get more than 50% of their electricity from conventional coal-fired generation. In Ohio, it totals 86%, according to the Energy Information Administration. Ratepayers in Indiana (94%), Missouri (85%), New Mexico (80%), Pennsylvania (56%), West Virginia (98%) and Wyoming (95%) are going to get soaked.

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Led by Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow, 15 Senate Democrats have already formed a “gang” demanding that “consumers and workers in all regions of the U.S. are protected from undue hardship.” In practice, this would mean corporate welfare for carbon-heavy businesses.

And of course Congress is its own “stakeholder.” An economy-wide tax under the cover of saving the environment is the best political moneymaker since the income tax. Obama officials are already telling the press, sotto voce, that climate revenues might fund universal health care and other new social spending. No doubt they would, and when they did Mr. Obama’s cap-and-trade rebates would become even smaller.

Cap and trade, in other words, is a scheme to redistribute income and wealth — but in a very curious way. It takes from the working class and gives to the affluent; takes from Miami, Ohio, and gives to Miami, Florida; and takes from an industrial America that is already struggling and gives to rich Silicon Valley and Wall Street “green tech” investors who know how to leverage the political class.
“Did you know that Sen. McCain proposed the same plan?”

Yes, I am and was fully aware of that

“I wonder if the Right would be ranting and raving over it.”

We would and did.

“Rather than overwrought and unsupported claims why don’t the Right propose ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS?”

We are. You should be dealing with what the article tells you instead of pointing fingers at McCain and Republicans. What McCain once proposed and the Republicans actions are irrelevant. What Obama is doing or planning to do, since he is in the White house right now, is relevant. Try to deal with something thats relevant.
“You people wanted a free market solution that made the businesses in control. They are.”

Thats news. Seems that government has its hand in everything now.
“However, we can avoid this tax by making our carbon footprint smaller – which somehow the questioner didn’t take in to account.”

I didnt take it into account because I dont want to make it smaller. Making it smaller entails changing my behavior and/or the products I buy. I like the freedom of doing as I please without being forced to change via cap and trade taxes.

“And, the same people who either pay the “tax” or cut their carbon use, also benefit: cleaner air,”

Cleaner air isnt going to happen.

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2213702/europe-cap-trade-scheme-hand

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=96dc23c8-33e2-45c4-bf6a-14aba852d764

“slowing of global warming”

Global warming is a fraud. We humans do not have any control over it.

“lower prices on low-carbon energy”

No, HIGHER prices on low carbon energy.
“And, with a federal mandate existing, capitalists will have the political and economic groundwork to invest in carbon neutral (or better) manufacturing and power generation.”

They already have the “political and economic groundwork to invest in carbon neutral (or better) manufacturing and power generation”. Its called freedom. A government mandate forcing them to do so is costly and disasterous.
Still waiting for any Obama liberals to deal with the information contained within the article.

***crickets***

Oh come on, liberals. You all hold yourselves up as the big protecters of the little guy, the poor, the working class. Yet here is a piece of legislation that will cost them big time, Obama will hurt them big time, and you’re absolutely silent.

***crickets***

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

***crickets***

Who stats are these…?

Sponsored Bill Statistics
Number of sponsored bills: 70
Number of sponsored bills passed: 2
Number of co-sponsored bills: 404
Number of co-sponsored bills passed: 8

Better record with his/her amendments…
S.RES.133 : A resolution celebrating the life of Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson.
S.RES.268 : A resolution designating July 12, 2007, as “National Summer Learning Day”.
S.AMDT.524 to S.CON.RES.21 To provide $100 million for the Summer Term Education Program supporting summer learning opportunities for low-income students in the early grades to lessen summer learning losses that contribute to the achievement gaps separating low-income students from their middle-class peers.
S.AMDT.599 to S.CON.RES.21 To add $200 million for Function 270 (Energy) for the demonstration and monitoring of carbon capture and sequestration technology by the Department of Energy.
S.AMDT.905 to S.761 To require the Director of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education to establish a program to recruit and provide mentors for women and underrepresented minorities who are interested in careers in mathematics, science, and engineering.
S.AMDT.923 to S.761 To expand the pipeline of individuals entering the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields to support United States innovation and competitiveness.
S.AMDT.924 to S.761 To establish summer term education programs.
S.CON.RES.5 : A concurrent resolution honoring the life of Percy Lavon Julian, a pioneer in the field of organic chemistry and the first and only African-American chemist to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.
S.CON.RES.25 : A concurrent resolution condemning the recent violent actions of the Government of Zimbabwe against peaceful opposition party activists and members of civil society.
S.CON.RES.44 : A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that a commemorative postage stamp should be issued honoring Rosa Louise McCauley Parks.
S.CON.RES.46 : A concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month.
S.CON.RES.96 : A concurrent resolution commemorating Irena Sendler, a woman whose bravery saved the lives of thousands during the Holocaust and remembering her legacy of courage, selflessness, and hope.
S.RES.383 : A resolution honoring and recognizing the achievements of Carl Stokes, the first African-American mayor of a major American city, in the 40th year since his election as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
S.RES.600 : A resolution commemorating the 44th anniversary of the deaths of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Mississippi, while working in the name of American democracy to register voters and secure civil rights during the summer of 1964, which has become known as “Freedom Summer”.

The education bills are good. Not sure why they are federal programs though. I thought States AND school districts took care of that. Oh well, whats $100Million dollars…?
The energy fund is good too…until you realize that Gas and Oil companies & Utility companies should be investing in this. Oh well, who cares, it’s only $200Million…

Remember, these could be any Senator’s stats… Please be respectable.

Did you know???????????????

Shania Twain is Mark Twain’s great-granddaughter. (thanks to Eric Snyder)

Scientists estimate that sleep lost due to daylight saving time reduces the average lifespan by nearly two full months.

No NCAA basketball team from a school located in its state’s capitol has ever won the national championship.

The top three names for female babies born in China last year were Huan, Jia, and Ethel.

Shortly before his execution, Timothy McVeigh constructed a scale model of the Lincoln Memorial with popsicle sticks.

Because the Japanese language has several thousand characters, each episode of Japan’s “Wheel of Fortune” can last several days.

Strains of bacteria similar to E. coli have been found in used printer cartridges – but only in the color cyan. Scientists have no explanation.

Female monkeys recognize their children by height and weight, not necessarily by their facial characteristics.

The Australian aborigine language has over 30 words for “dust.”

Anyone convicted of animal cruelty in Sedalia, Missouri, is sentenced to a month’s confinement in the county animal shelter.

Fewer divorces occur in families in which the children wake their parents before 6 a.m. on Saturdays.

John F. Kennedy was an accomplished ventriloquist.

Two-thirds of all the world’s coriander comes from a single valley in Italy.

Contrary to popular belief, the white is not the healthiest part of an egg. It’s actually the shell.

Adding baking soda and vinegar will make your scrambled eggs fluffier.

The first prototype defibrillators delivered 1,200 joules of electrical energy instead of the now standard 360, occasionally causing dead bodies to sit upright momentarily as though they were still alive.

Every member of the Australian band Men at Work is currently unemployed.

Customs officials have dogs that are trained to distinguish between Cuban cigars and all other cigars.

Archimedes’ screw was the basis for Max Factor’s invention of the twisting lipstick holder.

A Tokyo inventor has developed a laptop computer whose battery is recharged by energy generated from the movement of the user’s mouse, yet Sony lawyers have successfully blocked every attempt to produce a product using the technology.

Ballpoint pens were invented by a Michigan scientist attempting to reduce the number of birds killed for their quills.

Socrates is thought to be the first to use the phrase “a bad case of the Mondays”.

Penguins can smell toothpaste from several miles away.

Glamorous movie star Brad Pitt once had a summer job posting warning signs at coal mine entrances.

During a banana shortage in the summer of 1958, banana splits were made with zucchini or carrots.

The National Weather Service will pay $30 for the rights to any original photograph of lightning.

In the early 1800s, a flush beat a full house in poker.

The rhesus monkey is the only animal that can be taught to hum a tune.

Biblical scholars recently unearthed a previously unknown gospel written by a disciple named “Rusty”.

With the exception of a small 200-square-mile section of Antarctica, every single square kilometer of dry land on the planet has been walked on by at least one human being.

The Mongolian pony is the only animal other than an elephant capable of fending off an attack by a healthy adult tiger.

In 1984, an Ohio family visiting New York City stood at a broken DON’T WALK sign for three days.

Because of their unusual shape, Hershey’s Kisses contain more calories per ounce than the same amount of chocolate in other forms.

If you tar and feather a 2×4 and place it in your yard, it will ward off bats.

The largest home in the United States, North Carolina’s Biltmore House, was originally intended to be the official residence of a new monarchy to be established when the South rose again.

The Toltec calendar was based on a 360-day year, with each day being about 24 hours and 20 minutes long.

The universal size of the credit card is based entirely on the size of the 1960s US Communist Party membership card. Credit cards were designed so that they wouldn’t cause the Communist Party card to stand out.

The K in K-Mart stands for K-Mart.

Nobody born in Kentucky has ever been elected to Congress.

In an effort to improve the nutritional value of its “Shamrock shakes,” McDonald’s colors them with broccoli extract.

M & Ms were candy-coated peas during a chocolate shortage in the 1950s.

After he resigned from the Presidency, Richard Nixon could often be found on the beaches of San Clemente, with his ever-present metal detector.

Winston Churchill was born with a third nipple, which he removed himself with nail-clippers at the age of 14.

Only a single dissenting vote prevented the death penalty in Texas from being carried out by immersing the convicted person in a nest of fire ants.

If you place a fresh Viagra tablet in a houseplant’s soil ev
If you were a chunk of people who thought these were real you are wrong. Theyre not, but it would be pretty cool if they were

Why is the government wasting money on these 20 programs?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep/government-waste.html

#1 A total of $3 million has been granted to researchers at the University of California at Irvine so that they can play video games such as World of Warcraft. The goal of this “video game research” is reportedly to study how “emerging forms of communication, including multiplayer computer games and online virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life can help organizations collaborate and compete more effectively in the global marketplace.”

#2 The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the University of New Hampshire $700,000 this year to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.

#3 $615,000 was given to the University of California at Santa Cruz to digitize photos, T-shirts and concert tickets belonging to the Grateful Dead.

#4 A professor at Stanford University received $239,100 to study how Americans use the Internet to find love. So far one of the key findings of this “research” is that the Internet is a safer and more discreet way to find same-sex partners.

#5 The National Science Foundation spent $216,000 to study whether or not politicians “gain or lose support by taking ambiguous positions.”

#6 The National Institutes of Health spent approximately $442,340 to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam.

#7 Approximately $1 million of U.S. taxpayer money was used to create poetry for the Little Rock, New Orleans, Milwaukee and Chicago zoos. The goal of the “poetry” is to help raise awareness on environmental issues.

#8 The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spent $175 million during 2010 to maintain hundreds of buildings that it does not even use. This includes a pink, octagonal monkey house in the city of Dayton, Ohio.

#9 $1.8 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars went for a “museum of neon signs” in Las Vegas, Nevada.

#10 $35 million was reportedly paid out by Medicare to 118 “phantom” medical clinics that never even existed. Apparently these “phantom” medical clinics were established by a network of criminal gangs as a way to defraud the U.S. government.

#11 The Conservation Commission of Monkton, Vermont got $150,000 from the federal government to construct a “critter crossing”. Thanks to U.S. government money, the lives of “thousands” of migrating salamanders are now being saved.

#12 In California, one park received $440,000 in federal funds to perform “green energy upgrades” on a building that has not been used for a decade.

#13 $440,955 was spent this past year on an office for former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert that he rarely even visits.

#14 One Tennessee library was given $5,000 in federal funds to host a series of video game parties.

#15 The U.S. Census Bureau spent $2.5 million on a television commercial during the Super Bowl that was so poorly produced that virtually nobody understood what is was trying to say.

#16 A professor at Dartmouth University received $137,530 to create a “recession-themed” video game entitled “Layoff”.

#17 The National Science Foundation gave the Minnesota Zoo over $600,000 so that they could develop an online video game called “Wolfquest”.

#18 A pizzeria in Iowa was given $60,000 to renovate the pizzeria’s facade and give it a more “inviting feel”.

#19 The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave one enterprising group of farmers $30,000 to develop a tourist-friendly database of farms that host guests for overnight “haycations”. This one sounds like something that Dwight Schrute would have dreamed up.

#20 Almost unbelievably, the National Institutes of Health was given $800,000 in “stimulus funds” to study the impact of a “genital-washing program” on men in South Africa.

Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to government waste. There are undoubtedly countless other wasteful government programs. These are just 20 of the most ridiculous examples of things that Congress has decided to waste tax dollars on.

Should I refinance my mortgage?

I purchased in 2006 for 74000.00 in Cleveland Ohio, A year later I took out a Equity Loan of 15000.00 to pay for new windows, paint job, and furnace/air conditioning, energy efficient appliances, and wiring updates. My current rate is 6.5 on a 30 year fixed conventional. I went to my current loan institution recently and was told that the current rate was about 5 percent now, but was told that I could not do a refi with my current backer with was Fannie Mae due to the big mortgage crisis they have gone through. So it would be a total refi and would then get slammed with closing costs. However they told me that I would have to combine the 1st and 2nd mortgage(home equity loan) into one, and that would put me at a greater then 80% loan to value, which would require me to carry PMI (mortgage insurance). When it was all said and done, i would be saving roughly 30.00 a month on my current bill???? If i didn’t have to carry PMI it would be about 100.00 in savings a month? Have things changed again, should i retry this attempt. Should i get an appraisal, cause he told me my home would have to appraise for 103,000 to not have to carry pmi. I believe my home is worth every ounce of that, but the current market might not! any help would be appreciated.