Californians should be skeptical when their legislators ask them to make great sacrifices for dubious reasons. Sure, there are times when citizens need to be mobilized to make do with less for the greater good – World War II era rationing comes to mind. But the type of collective sacrifice now fashionable among liberal politicians based on scientifically “proven” global warming research certainly deserves our skepticism, and not just because the world has been experiencing record cool temperatures.
The liberal-dominated Legislature has fully accepted the apocalyptic calls from radical environmental special interest groups and forced California to unilaterally reduce so-called greenhouse gases when it passed Assembly Bill 32 (the Global Warming act) back in 2006. Unfortunately, Californians are now stuck footing the bill. The effects of this policy monstrosity, once it is fully implemented, will be felt by every resident.
A recent study from Sacramento State University estimates that California small business will pay nearly $50,000 more in costs due to AB 32. Naturally, these costs will be passed on to the consumers. Indeed, after full implementation, AB 32 will cost $182.6 billion in lost production to the economy, meaning fewer jobs and higher prices for everyday goods.
California stands to lose 1.1 million jobs—exacerbating the already high 11.5% unemployment rate—as a result of AB 32. The so-called “green” jobs that the bill would supposedly create will likely not materialize and, even if they did, it would not offset rising unemployment as the state sheds more than a million jobs. In fact, California’s toxic business environment means some of the green jobs would actually leave the state.
Additionally, the average household will face nearly $4,000 in increased costs each year and those fewer jobs and higher prices will mean that Californians face limited options to when trying to support themselves. Given our current economic woes, this would be the worse time to impose such an enormous burden on California families.
AB 32 epitomizes poorly thought out policies. The Governor jumped on what was then the popular bandwagon, and was cheered on by the mainstream media. Now that the economy soured, people are re-thinking the extravagant cutbacks being demanded of them.
The explanation for such a hasty passage of far-reaching and non-science based policy was essentially that the world would end due to “global-warming.” Unfortunately, it looks like Californians will be experiencing more than unseasonably cool weather—they will also have to face a cooling economy.