Cap/Trade May Close 20% Factories

From Manufacturing & Technology:

Poll Shows Clean Energy Act Could Force Nearly 20 Percent of Manufacturers to Close

The cap-and-trade based system, pushed by the Obama administration and passed by the U.S. House, could cause energy costs to skyrocket and fuel more unemployment

Critics of the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives say energy costs will skyrocket if the bill – as it stands now – becomes law. Manufacturing & Technology eJournal asked readers what actions they were most likely take at their company to offset the inevitable increases in energy costs.

AND THE RESPONSES WEREN’T VERY ENCOURAGING

*More than 17 percent of those who answered said they would have to shut down their business because there is no way they could handle the kinds of increases being predicted.

The unscientific poll taken of Manufacturing & Technology eJournal readers from June 28th through July 1st drew 943 responses.

OTHER CHOICES INCLUDED:

*Would raise the price of my product or service to customers (22 percent);

*A combination of price increases, personnel cuts and reductions in pay and benefits (20 percent);

*Switch to a 4-day workweek (15 percent);

*Layoff workers (14.5 percent).

*Only nine percent said they would do their best to absorb the energy costs increases without making any changes.

In a statement to Manufacturing & Technology eJournal, U.S. Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) said he would fight the legislation in the Senate.

"The Cap and Trade Bill that passed the House is a jobs killer bill plain and simple,’ Bunning said. "The legislation is essentially an energy tax hike on small businesses, and will raise electricity costs in Kentucky ninety percent by the year 2035. President Obama’s pledge to not raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year is thrown out the window with his support of this tax-raising legislation.’

Other U.S. Senators from Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan have been asked to comment on the poll and if they planned to support or fight the legislation when it comes before the Senate. Look for their responses soon.

And here is more good news for the economy.

From a relieved Reuters:

Congressman Henry Waxman headed back to work

Thu Jul 2

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, hospitalized in Los Angeles for a fainting spell days after spearheading House passage of a landmark climate change bill, will be back at work on Capitol Hill next week, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Waxman, 69, was admitted on Tuesday after collapsing in his district office, planned to discharge the veteran California Democrat on Thursday, spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot said.

Waxman had returned to Los Angeles after leading the effort that on Friday won House passage of legislation to slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, a major part of President Barack Obama’s domestic agenda.

Waxman underwent "routine testing" while hospitalized and was feeling fine by the next day, Lightfoot said, but she offered no information about what led to his fainting spell.

"He is in good health and will be back to work in Washington next week," Lightfoot said in a statement…

What a hero.

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