Let’s all allow Michael Jackson to rest in peace….and take a look at what’s been going on in our country.

Big things like healthcare reform and Cap & Trade legislation will have a huge impact on job creation (some say job loss) in the U.S. over the next several years. Debate rages in an attempt to skew the views of members of Congress as to the political, social and economic viability of these tough measures for tough times.

As usual, there are two principal perspectives on the major sequelae of Cap & Trade.
The progressive, liberal Left sees it as

• realigning our values to reflect the realities of climate change, and
• getting a grip on our archaic national energy policy to bring it some semblance of modernity and foresight.

The conservative Right demonizes it as

• a job-killer and wealth-destroyer
• an ill-conceived attempt to replace current energy sources with not-ready-for-prime-time alternatives.

Perhaps I’m naive, but those of us who witnessed the first wave of renewable-energy policy efforts in the 1970’s also remember the swift testing and abandonment of those efforts by Big Energy. An example is the placement of solar panels at the White House that Reagan later tore off - somehow the numbers just didn’t work.

This somehow may have contributed  to the fact that the U.S. is a small player in such industries as PV panel manufacturing, wind turbine production, and renewable-energy research, eclipsed by Japan, Germany, and now China. Ironically, we may be forced to buy the tools of our energy future from outside sources, until sufficient infrastructure and training of U.S. new-energy workers reaches critical mass. All the more reason for regular working people to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, and connect their own dots between this proposed ‘radical socialist’ legislation, and real job opportunities and longterm economic stability.

The Wall St. Journal and Heritage Foundation pundits, among others, are cranking with their tax-and-spend mantras, forgetting that the ‘free’ market hasn’t managed to keep greed and self-interest out of the economic equation. Maybe a bit of market management, even manipulation, is warranted right now.

On the other hand, our House and Senate members on both sides of the aisle have a way of benefitting, not to say profiting, from any sweeping new initiative. Innovative legislation has dim hope of passing without endless pork-heavy amendments put forth to placate and appease whoever has the strongest twisting arm.

We voters are the ones who’ll be left with higher taxes, higher energy bills and too much CO2 in our environment, if we don’t educate ourselves quickly about the important decisions we now face.  We can tune out the infotainment stream fostered by corporate giants, approach the issues with an honest skepticism, and see who really benefits from the proposed ‘reforms’.  We can gather intelligence from many sources, then stand up, advocate for ourselves and let our voices be heard, just like in a real democracy.

From all sides:

Cap & Trade 101, from American Progress

Here’s the EPA’s rationale for Cap & Trade

The European Union’s Emission Trading System, begun in 2005.

Dr. Roy Spencer, Dubbed by Rush Limbaugh as the “official climatologist of the EIB network”, in Right Side News