No comments on anything today (is something going on with something called "clunkers"?) for reasons best explained in this post. But, you might enjoy this from the inbox:

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE AND ENERGY POLICY ACROSS THE STATES

August 3, 2009 – Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts today released a new report, Cap and Dividend: A State-by-State Analysis, jointly published with the Economics for Equity and the Environment Network.

“There is great interest in Congress and among the public in how climate and energy policy will affect families in different states,” said James K. Boyce, co-author of the report and director of PERI's environment program. “We estimate the impact on family budgets of higher fuel prices that will result from a cap on carbon emissions. We then ask what happens if carbon permits are auctioned, rather than given away to corporations, and most of the money is returned to the American people as dividends. We find that in every state, at least six in ten households come out ahead in pocketbook terms, without even counting the benefits of curbing global warming.”

Putting a cap on carbon emissions will increase prices of oil, coal, natural gas, and everything produced and distributed using them. By calculating the “carbon footprint” of households in different income brackets in each state, the report shows how the resulting costs to consumers will be distributed across the population.

The money that consumers pay in higher prices will not leave the nation’s economy. In this respect, carbon permits are very different from OPEC-engineered oil price increases that send American dollars abroad. Instead this money will go to the owners of the carbon permits created under the cap. A cap-and-dividend policy would put this ownership in the hands of the American people. It would do so by auctioning 100% the carbon permits, as proposed by President Obama in his 2009 budget, and by returning most or all of the auction revenue to the public as equal dividends to each person.

With a permit price of $25 per ton of carbon dioxide, Boyce and his co-author Matthew Riddle report that the annual cost to the median family would range from $239 per person in Oregon to $349 in Indiana. Under cap-and-dividend, each person would receive dividend payments of $386 per year, so the net benefit would range from $37 per person in Indiana to $147 in Oregon.

 “A cap-and-dividend policy has three big things going for it,” says Boyce. “First, it affirms the ethical principle that our natural wealth – in this case, the atmosphere’s ability to absorb and recycle our carbon emissions – belongs in common and equal measure to all. Second, it sends a clear market price signal that burning fossil fuels has a social cost, giving businesses and consumers the incentive to invest in energy efficiency and clean energy. Finally, by protecting the real incomes of American families, and doing this in a very transparent and visible way, it can win durable public support over the long haul for policies that wean our nation’s economy from dependence on fossil fuels.”

The report is available online at www.e3network.org. For further information, contact Professor James Boyce at +1 (413) 577-0816.

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