Credit Cards and Emissions

Credit Card Regulations

Now the government is putting caps on how the credit card companies can punish the people who don't pay them.

Oh beautiful.

And, since the companies can't go after those who they should be going after- those that don't pay, and hence cost them money- they're going to raise everyone's interest rates.

Wow. I like it.

Now, I don't like credit cards. I am not going to get a credit card if at all possible, since I think it's dumb to put yourself in that much debt for something you could just as easily buy outright. But it's wrong to go after credit card companies, and in turn pass on more costs to the consumer.

Furthermore, it's unconstitutional. It's wrong to go after a market force like credit cards or the companies that give them out, even if what they're doing is kind of unethical. It's the consumer's fault for getting the credit card in the first place, then filling it up with thousands of dollars of debt.

Regulations on Car Exhaust Emissions

Yes, you read that right.

Our wonderful President Obama wants to put regulations on how much exhaust can come out of your tailpipe, to reduce greenhouse gases, y'know. This will go wonderfully with Cap and Trade, since CAT will discourage people from driving period, and this will just reinforce that!

Next, they propose to increase the fuel efficiency standards to 35.5 mpg for passenger cars and pickups by 2016.

Oh joy. Let's just burden the car companies even more.

Fuel efficiency ratings are rising. Without the government's help. You know why? Because the market wants it. It's the same reason why McDonalds has started selling apples and salads- the consumer wants it, those products are popular, and so they are sold.

That is the way things are supposed to be. It's the most perfect system ever conceived. Except, possibly, Communism, but that's because the government controls everything. And it would work great except for the fact that, oh, everyone's poor, except for those that control everything. Which would be about .000001% of the population.

These regulations will increase the cost of cars by almost $1,300. $600 of that would be purely from the increase cited above. The rest? The result of previous energy policy. (Bush, Clinton, etc.)

"Consumers can retain choice but for more fuel-efficient cars. Every single category of car will be more efficient." (Unnamed official in Washington)

Oh great!!! Just the choice I always wanted!

Now, it isn't that I don't mind fuel efficient vehicles. It's that I dislike being forced to choose one. It's wrong. The government has no right to determine what I can and cannot choose. Period.

Cap-and-Trade

Has anyone else heard anything concerning this? Basically, President Obama's plan is to put limits on those pesky carbon emissions. Companies will have to buy carbon credits at an auction- and individuals and businesses will have to pay a tax for their 'emissions'.

Let me explain this- a quick economics lesson. When businesses are forced to pay thousands- or millions- of dollar per unit of 'carbon emissions', that will impair their ability to make money. They'll have to divert yet more of their profits to taxes. Hence, they will pass on the cost to the consumer- via higher prices- and workers- via layoffs.

What happened to the 'unemployment crisis' or 'easing the burden of the working man'?

Hundreds of people will end up without jobs. This will also hit my area hard, which relies on coal a lot, especially for our electricity. If those plants shut down- and they will- at least a few thousand people will be out of work. If we don't have electricity, a lot of the other businesses will shut down- places like Best Buy and the mall. That will throw thousands more out of work. When that's gone, more businesses will go out.

It will continue to escalate so, until our town begins to look like a ghost town.

But Obama and his cohorts- er, I mean, Congress- don't seem to realize this. All they see is the revenue they will garner. Either that, or the new world dollar they'll have when our economy comes crashing down, and they can blame it on 'capitalism'.

Now, I'm a bit curious to see how they're going to spin this. "We've reached our goal of reducing carbon emissions by 15%....but people are starving!"

Stop Breathing!

Do YOUR part to Help the Environment!!

Stop exhaling for two hours daily! This will reduce your carbon footprint, and get rid of those horrible pollutants, like CO2!!

Remember, just two hours every day!!

Yeah. That's about as ridiculous as this article. Guess what? CO2 has been officially declared a pollutant.

How is something the entire world breathes out every second a pollutant? Plants breathe the stuff, so it's not like it's just hanging in the air.

And how are we going to reduce our CO2 emissions?

Well....

They don't know. Maybe that (hilarious) wonderful invention, the CO2 scrubber!!

Here's a quick overview of the CO2 scrubber: It's basically a filter that pulls CO2 out of the air (as the operators are breathing out CO2...) and puts it in a tank. To be stored. Somewhere.

Where are they going to store it?

Uh....

Under the ground somewhere. Or maybe in a lake. Of course, then, the CO2 might compress, causing a huge explosion and suffocation to anyone that was nearby, but that's OK. After all, we're helping the environment.

Yeah. We're helping the trees by taking away their air. Just so that our lungs can be overtaxed by too much oxygen.

Another thing- why are 'greenhouse gases' bad?

I mean, let's think about this.

What is the purpose of a greenhouse? To grow things, right? Well, what happens if we don't have those 'greenhouse gases'?

Guess what? (*drumroll*) Things will cease to grow!! I mean, that's just simple logic, right?

Not, apparently, according to our Environmental 'Protection' Agency, and our dear President Obama.

Let us end with this beautiful little gemstone from the article: "The proposal, once finalized, will give E.P.A. far more responsibility than addressing climate change. It effectively will assign E.P.A. broad authority over the use and control of energy, in turn authorizing it to regulate virtually every sector of the economy."

Oh joy.