John Edwards Wants Greenhouse Gas Tax
Sunday, April 15, 2007 -    reddit
The campaign hit a significant rough spot while I was gone, one that saw a recurrence of Elizabeth Edwards cancer and the possible pullout of this sites candidate. Thankfully it looks like Elizabeth's illness is another step in the battle, not a movement "downward." Nobody, regardless of ideology, wants to see another person in pain or to have health problems.
Everyone ought to know by now that John Edwards isn't going to pull out of the race at this point, though it remains a distinct possibility should Elizabeth's health take a downturn in the future. I'm sorry I missed the deal, and I wish her a speedy recovery.
The last time I checked, Edwards was the only person to actually release a health care plan to the public from our side. Most candidates talk a good game, but it doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot compared to something like that. Health care is such a hit-or-miss deal in this country that not everyone who has cancer can get the treatment they need to stay alive. Edwards wouldn't say something like this, or use it as an issue, but I have no problem saying that if you ever wonder whether or not the expensive health care reform Democrats like John Edwards are always floating are worth the cost, just think about your wife, or your mother, father, brother, whomever.
Imagine if they found out they had cancer, and ask yourself if they could afford a couple hundred grand or more in medical costs. Ask yourself if they could afford the $2000 medical cans just to find out if they even have it or not, and then then you'll have your answer.
Not one to sit still for any length of time, I see that Edwards is moving on to pollution regulation. This is something that caught my attention in another capacity a few days ago, where I read that the Superfund was no longer collecting fees from industrial polluters. What this means obviously is that tax payers are now funding the cleanup of industrial toxic pollution instead of the companies who made the mess in the first place.
Edwards plan seems to revolve around taxing greenhouse gas polluters by the amount of gas they generate, with the intention of using those funds to advance clean energy technology.
Via ABC/AP:
"People ought to have to pay that want to generate greenhouse gases," Edwards said at a global warming rally that was part of a nationwide day of demonstrations. Edwards said charging polluters could generate up to $40 billion to invest in clean technology to "get us off our addiction to oil." He also said the United States should
That is no joke, if you stop and ask President Bush or practically any Republican what their solution to the problem of oil dependence, their answer is to stop being dependant on Middle Eastern oil. That's right, their solution is to stop getting oil from people that don't like us, rather than developing alternative energy technology that would get us off oil altogether.
The former North Carolina senator, who was John Kerry's running mate in the 2004 presidential election, said the U.S. needs to put a cap on carbon emissions, and should achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.
We could take billions of tons of greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere (or rather not put it in there in the first place) by putting new fuel efficiency standards on the auto industry. It's understandable that Republicans don't want to do this because it will cost the auto industry money, and they are under intense pressure from foreign manufacturers as it is, but that's not the point.
We're killing our planet at a rate that accelerates every single year that we don't do the things we know we can do to start rolling back these problems. If we don't stop, the coming climate shift is going to kill off the auto industry anyway because half the continent will be buried under ice and snow. If cleaning up our planet means putting a hurt on an entire industry, then that's a hit we'll just have to take and deal with. Killing off our ecosphere is not worth increasing profits and competition, it just isn't.
Other posts from this blog: Taxes, Elizabeth Edwards, Pollution
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