The Obama Administration seems completely unaware that America is over $11 trillion in debt. The White House is reportedly proposing $2 trillion for its new climate-change plan. At a time when Americans are struggling to pay their mortgages, President Obama is spending trillions to stop something that scientists dispute is even happening?
President Obama’s climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, nearly three times the White House’s initial estimate of the so-called “cap-and-trade” legislation, according to Senate staffers who were briefed by the White House.
A top economic aide to Mr. Obama told a group of Senate staffers last month that the president’s climate-change plan would surely raise more than the $646 billion over eight years the White House had estimated publicly, according to multiple a number of staffers who attended the briefing Feb. 26.
“We all looked at each other like, ‘Wow, that’s a big number,’” said a top Republican staffer who attended the meeting along with between 50 and 60 other Democratic and Republican congressional aides.
The plan seeks to reduce pollution by setting a limit on carbon emissions and allowing businesses and groups to buy allowances, although exact details have not been released.
At the meeting, Jason Furman, a top Obama staffer, estimated that the president’s cap-and-trade program could cost up to three times as much as the administration’s early estimate of $646 billion over eight years. A study of an earlier cap-and-trade bill co-sponsored by Mr. Obama when he was a senator estimated the cost could top $366 billion a year by 2015.
A White House official did not confirm the large estimate, saying only that Obama aides previously had noted that the $646 billion estimate was “conservative.
And if adding $2 trillion in more debt isn’t enough, the administration wants to spend $1.5 trillion on socialized health care at the same time. Apparently they’re just numbers now. Future generations and responsibility be damned, the liberal sissy wants it now.
Health policy experts say guaranteeing coverage for all Americans may cost about $1.5 trillion over the next decade. That would be more than double the $634 billion ‘down payment’ President Barack Obama set aside for health reform in his budget.
About 48 million people are uninsured, and the problem is only expected to get worse because the cost of coverage keeps rising.
Still, administration officials have pointedly avoided providing a ballpark estimate for Obama’s fix, saying it depends on details to be worked out with Congress.
“It’s impossible to put a price tag on the plan before even the basics have been finalized,” said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin. “Here’s what we do know: The reserve fund in the president’s budget is fully paid for and provides a substantial down payment on the cost of the reforming our health care system.”
The potential for runaway costs is raising concerns among Republicans and some Democrats as Congress prepares to draft next year’s budget.
Gee, ya think? Anyone heard of inflation? President Obama’s teleprompter wasn’t available for comment (shamelessly stolen from lorien1873).
by Stephan Tawney on Wed, Mar 18, 2009