Cap and trade, from feel good remedy to noose

One month after Democrats ramrodded cap and trade through the House, the measure is beginning to look like a noose around the necks of those who voted for it.

The list includes 211 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

The purpose of the bill was to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere, pleasing global warming alarmists who had ignored the inconvenient truth that global warming vanished a decade ago.

Then, in short order, two more inconvenient truths materialized: China, a huge and rapidly growing industrial economy, declined to participate in either global warming hysteria or the remedies, and India soon followed suit.

This means that, even if the U.S. drops cap and trade, which is unlikely, China and India will continue to undercut American producers in international markets while their economies continue to outpace ours.

That's the rosy scenario.

If the administration abandons cap and trade, it will look weak and irresolute on an issue that the Democrats created and nurtured.

The third scenario is the hellish one. It is also the one that seems most likely to materialize. Determined to stick with his agenda, Obama continues to pursue cap and trade in the Senate.

In that event, Obama will be demonstrating a willingness to cripple U.S. companies in international markets, where their products would bear the added cost of carbon control and become even less competetive on price.

The net gain for air quality? zero.

National atmospheres are not stovepipes. Seal flatulence in Greenland will eventually find its way to Florida. Air sullied by coal dust from new power plants in China will eventually make its way to Camp David.

Cleansing the air over one's own country, at great expense, while other countries continue to pollute, is a fool's errand.

The three-alarm president must now pay the price of his alarmism. Two hundred and nineteen members of the House may share the experience.