Economy Alarm: Global Warming Bill Could Cost 2 Million Jobs

Global Warming Bill Could Cost 2 Million Jobs
As America Still Asks, “Where Are The Jobs?” Cap-and-Trade Could Reduce Economic Growth by 2.4 Percent

Obama Promised to Create New Jobs “in the Clean Energy Economy”

“So we have a choice to make. We can remain one of the world’s leading importers of foreign oil, or we can make the investments that would allow us to become the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy. We can let climate change continue to go unchecked, or we can help stop it. We can let the jobs of tomorrow be created abroad, or we can create those jobs right here in America and lay the foundation for lasting prosperity.” (President Barack Obama, Whitehouse.gov, 3/19/2009)

Credibility Crash: Study Reveals House Global Warming Bill Could Cost Up to 2 Million Jobs

Add another climate bill cost estimate to the growing pile.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) released a study Wednesday that found under a high-cost scenario the House global warming bill could reduce economic growth by 2.4 percent and cost 2 million jobs by 2030.

Environmentalists were quick to criticize the study for underselling the development of climate friendly sources of power and not releasing other assumptions NAM and ACCF fed into the computer model to get their economic forecast, which takes more of a glass-half-empty view than recent governmental reports.

But the business groups’ figures will likely provide opponents of capping carbon more ammunition and could add to the angst of senators from industrial states. One key finding is that the climate bill will hurt the manufacturing sector particularly hard. As much as 66 percent of the total job loss from the climate bill could come from manufacturers, the report note.

And though the impact of the bill will grow over time, the economy will start feeling the effects of the carbon cap almost immediately.

“Industrial production begins to decline immediately in 2012, relative the baseline,” the report notes. (Jim Snyder, “Climate Bill Could Cost 2 Million Jobs, The Hill, 8/12/2009)

To read the full article, click here: http://thehill.com/index2.phpoption=com_content&task=view&id=85011&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=70

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