CRANE’S CORNER
CAP AND HUSTLE 　

In Ireland, one of the finest compliments you can give someone goes along these lines: He has or she has mastered the fine art of blarney to the point that they could tell you to go to hell in such a way that you would look forward to making the trip. I’m reminded of that piece of folklore..oft repeated during my childhood by elders of our Irish American clan..as I reads that the great California political heist known as Cap and Trade gets into high gear tomorrow. That’s when a market for buying so called carbon offset credits opens for business. Cap and Trade might be better be called Tap The Charade…many see it as nothing more than a cleverly disguised tax..that will cost 400 California companies……a billion dollars in the first year. Money that the state for now supposedly use for anti pollution efforts. The way the market will work, a price is set for a ton of carbon, which will be traded electronically. Companies will be given a certain number of allowances…each entitling the company to emit one ton of carbon…once the limit is reached, companies can buy credits on this carbon market at the going price…or ignore the market and pay a fine. In theory---Cap and Trade is designed to clean up the air by pressuring big polluters…refineries power companies and the like and ..to modern ize their facilities by adding new greener technologies…Critics say whats more likely to happen is that companies will move out of California…leaving one last trail of carbon..fired workers driving to the unemployment office or moving vans emitting exhaust as they move the goods of those still employed to greener pastures…corporate wise…if not environmental wise… And companies that do decide to stay in the Golden State will have to cut costs somewhere to offset the cost of credits that offset the pollution they generate. Seems to it’s nothing but a political shell game. The amount of pollution probably won’t decrease much----the polluters will just buy credits…or pay the state hefty fines…and either way…those costs will be passed on to us in the form of higher prices for fuel or food or plastic or cement or whatever end product a polluting company turns out. Now if you’re a Cap and Trade booster who thinks only a republican, pro business zealot could oppose such a measure guess again…here’s what democratic senator rod wright_____had to say after sitting in on An extensive hearing on the subject: 　 "It is clear that this cap and trade will have no impact at all on climate change. It will add significant cost to business and threatens the economic future of this state. The cap can be achieved without the trade. Trade encourages gaming of the system and has the very real potential to drive business away." 　 Cap and Trade will probably cut more jobs than pollution...it's a cross between three card monte...and a political po nzi---it's a bad idea....but like most bad ideas...it brings in cash to the state..now....with no one considering the consequences later..