For those of you who remember the 70s; the good old days of disco, afros and Jimmy Carter; you’ll remember with fondness the air pollution scare that was taking the country by storm. Well the fear mongers were busy telling us that, quote, “air pollution is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in just the next few years alone. By 1980 the life expectancy of all Americans will be 42 years. By 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by one-half.”
Now with that brilliant prognostication as background, here are some facts: Since 1970 the population is up by 50%, miles driven (some in those evil SUVs) has increased by 159% and real GDP (Gross Domestic Product for those of you still in public schools) has increased by 159%. We should be wallowing in air pollution and the population of the Earth should be about 6, give or take.
Strangely though, somehow it didn’t work out as planned. Air pollution has diminished. And not just slightly, but drastically. There has been a 91% decrease in the lead air quality from 1980 to 2007; a 76% national decrease in carbon monoxide air quality and a 68% decrease in sulfur dioxide air quality (facts stolen from Glenn Beck. Thank you Mr. Beck.) Now I know what you’re thinking; “How could we accomplish that without our benevolent, all-knowing, all-seeing federal government getting involved and saddling us with a cap and trade system that would keep us all from choking to death?”
Well, I’m sure Congress wanted to, but just couldn’t figure out a way to scare us sufficiently enough to steal trillions of our dollars.
Oh, and let’s not forget the “experts” who in the 1980s were warning us that a new ice age was on the way and if we didn’t act “right now” we would all be living on a glacier. Yeah, that worked out real well. Some “reputable” scientists actually wanted to release millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere to warm up the Earth. What a great idea that would have been!
Another idea was to hang giant mirrors in space to reflect the sun’s rays on the Earth, thereby heating up the surface. I know you’re rolling your eyes right now, but I did not make that up.
You see, scaremongering is big business. And now we have the latest version. It’s called “global warming” or since the Earth has actually started cooling, it’s now known as “climate change.” And it’s coming after you.
Spurred on by the guru of global warming, Al Gore (you remember; he invented the Internet) and the rest of the loons on the radical left, Congress has introduced a Cap and Trade bill. If passed, it will be the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. You will actually be able to sit and watch the money fly out of your pocket and into the hands of our ever-faithful (to whom I don’t know, but it’s not us) politicians in Washington who ALWAYS know how to spend your money more wisely than you.
The cost of this legislation will be staggering. Not only will our utility bills skyrocket (Obama has already said that they will at least double), but the cost of every single manufactured good in America (if any companies choose to remain here) will increase substantially as they pass the new taxes along to consumers. And let me be clear on this just in case you bought into our Dear Leader’s class-warfare act; this will affect the rich and poor alike. The only folks who will be saved are the homeless. That is if the shelters aren’t forced to close.
And you can take that to the bank. If you have any change left. Hope you do.
