Cap and Trade at the State Level

According to statistics....Alabama has a carbon footprint of 11.

The same statistical page.....give California a carbon footprint of 46.

This is all based on per capita numbers....which is kinda important to realize.

So I started searching for other countries to compare this fantastic statistic against. I finally found a Wiki site, which laid out international sites.

Germany? Just under 10.

Norway? 11.

Czech? 11.5.

France? 6.2. Please remember....they run lots of nuclear power plants....not coal plants like the rest of Europe.

The mighty UK? Just under 9.79.

So I started to look closely at the charts covering each of the fifty states....lots of states were higher than Bama. In fact...near the top...was Vermont with a carbon score of 50.

So I'm beginning to wonder on this "cap and trade" game.....if you had thirty states who were just as good as Germany or Belgium or Netherlands.....with similar populations.....then why would you punish those thirty US states (to include Bama)?

Yes, notice I said the word "punish".

When you create a tax game like 'cap and trade'....you end up taxing everyone to share in your pain. To be kinda honest....folks in Bama have done precisely what the folks in Germany have done....and live within the carbon numbers. Remember....I used the carbon expert's own statistics in this research project.

So rather than group us all into some basket, and punish all of us for the actions of twenty dimwit states with high carbon....which probably doesn't matter anyway.....lets be fair....punish the bigboys before you punish us.

Loser Status

As if the state of California wasn't already in a bad spot...but this week...the governor said that one of his back-up plans is to close all the state parks. This would save almost $70 million.

The amusing thing about this....is that the state parks helps to generate tax revenue and jobs throughout the entire state.

Mount Diablo Park? A 20,000-acre East Bay park...brings in around a million visitors each year. They buy food, beverages, gas, etc. They stay at hotels in the local area. They buy coffee cups that say Diablo Park. They buy stupid over-sized t-shirts that say Diablo Park.

I was sitting reading through all the articles....then here was this 4-star gem....around 80 million people come out to visit California parks every single year...and they spend money....lots of money. The state readily admits that folks spend almost $2 billion a year for beverages, food, gas, and camping stuff...on the local economy.

So most of these revenue producers have employees. The businesses are now making back-up plans as well...because they will have to lay off employees...who were paying sales taxes and income taxes to the state. So the state loses coming....and going.

As the Sun Sets

Its a neat list of folks of importance in San Fransisco...working for the city or county....and what they make. Note....over fifty folks...making over $200k each. The highest one? Some gal who is a special nurse....hugging $350k a year.

Now, just a moment to pause over this group of people....including fifteen who work in law enforcement. Each will come to retire. Each will collect at least $120k per year. Each might live to be 80....so figure twenty years of $120k each. Then figure that each needs a replacement in the office....and the replacement will make the $250k salary as well....with yearly 2 to 4 percent raises. In 2015? I'm betting on the top fifty folks making a salary of $300k minimum.

Who pays? The California taxpayer. How can the state survive? It won't. California is dying and will not recover. No one can afford this kind of government structure. You can't cut these people....you can't trim their salaries.....you can't even bring in outsiders to replace them at 60 percent the current salary (the corruption factor won't allow it). So this is the end phase of California's survival.