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7/14/2010
Shown: Steve Kagen's Priorities - Radically Misplaced
Liberal blogger Matthew Yglesias wrote something the other day that conjured up thoughts of our own Congressman Steve Kagen:
In addition to its ideological elements, the climate change issue has a substantial regional/geographic component....meaning that certain states would be net losers under carbon pricing policy unless special provisions were made for them. And, indeed, it’s no secret that Democrats from high-emissions midwestern states are somewhat hesitant to act and eager to try to cut deals that might protect local industries....
Despite the fact that this description suits Steve Kagen of Wisconsin's 8th district perfectly, Kagen voted for the cap & trade legislation anyway. So even a supporter of cap & trade like Yglesias can recognize a cold-weather upper midwest state, like Wisconsin, is likely to be net loser under cap and trade, but a congressman who represents a portion of that state can't?
Unfortunately for resident's of Kagen's district, this vote is not an isolated instance. According to Open Congress, Steve Kagen votes with Nancy Pelosi 96% of the time. Nancy Pelosi represents California's 8th district, which includes San Francisco. Given the differences in geography, demographics, and history between WI-8 and CA-8, it would be incredible if their interests converged 96% of the time. Jo recently noted some similarities between San Francisco and Madison when it came to government intervention… but Madison isn't located in the 8th district.
Voters of WI-8 realize there will often be times when their interests are different from the interests of voters in Pelosi's district, but it appears this insight is lost on Kagen. The cap and trade vote is a great example of this. Between now and November, expect Kagen to try and downplay this vote and many others, but don't be fooled. The interests of residents of WI-8 are simply not Steve Kagen's top priority.
Jeremy Shown blogs at Rhymes with Clown and frequently hits on politics and economics in Wisconsin and the U.S.
COMMENTS
***So even a supporter of cap & trade like Yglesias can recognize a cold-weather upper midwest state, like Wisconsin, is likely to be net loser under cap and trade, but a congressman who represents a portion of that state can't***
Yep, you have shown us clearly that cap n trade would be bad for us cuz we live in a cold weather area. Opps but what of hot weather in the south and use of air conditioning? And what of positive effects such as carbon credits or incentives for wind or solar? I think you simplify the matter too much. For that matter I suspect you know little about the bill itself. I probably would not support it because I would prefer a simpler carbon tax with rebate. But you have no clue as to why Kagan voted as he did.
Dean Weichmann (Wed Jul 14 05:44:04 2010)
Dean- I agree with you that I have no idea why Kagen voted the way he did.
Does Kagen himself know? I'm not so sure. He certainly couldn't articulate a compelling reason when asked about it at his listening sessions last summer.
Jeremy (Wed Jul 14 06:36:17 2010)
"I probably would not support it because I would prefer a simpler carbon tax with rebate. But you have no clue as to why Kagan voted as he did."
Man-made "Global Warming" has been proven to be a hoax and a fraud perpetrated on a gullible public by researchers dependent on public funds for their slanted consensus. It shares about the same validity as the Mayans' prediction that the world will end in 2012.
I would much prefer that my taxes not be used to subsidize the construction of inefficent and wasteful windmills and solar panels, allowing them instead to be compared fiscally to carbon-based fuels. There is, of course, no comparison.
The Global Warming Hoax should go away, along with Steve Kagan.
Duke (Wed Jul 14 07:37:14 2010)
Jeremy what of the issue itself? Do you consider AGW to be an important issue?
By the way thanks for the link to Yglesias. I especially like the comment #6. An excerpt from that comment;
***Denying anthropogenic global warming (aka, climate change) is a tribal belief for conservatives. Doesn’t matter that there is no controversy about this among actual climate scientists (as opposed to meteorologists and random chemists and physicists and engineers with no formal training or expertise in climate science)***
Dean Weichmann (Wed Jul 14 07:49:04 2010)
Apparently the belief in AGW is alive and well. There was a report on Jeff Wagner's show this morning about a booklet the DNR has put out for use by schoolchildren which tells them what they should do to help alleviate AGW. Taxpayers paid for that booklet, my tribalmates!
Jeremy is spot on about Kagen's voting record. I keep e-mailing Kagen about this and he keeps e-mailing that he's doing everything in his power for my good and we will go ever onward and upward (or words to that effect).
C.R. Stevenson (Wed Jul 14 10:13:29 2010)
Dave wrote: "But you have no clue as to why Kagan voted as he did."
I do:
From Rep Kagen's Federal Elections Commission Report:
NANCY PELOSI FOR CONGRESS 20090331 2000.00
NANCY PELOSI FOR CONGRESS 20090630 2000.00
That's what you get when you vote with Nancy 96% of the time.
Dale (Wed Jul 14 10:51:37 2010)
Neither side knows whether we truly need cap & trade or not, and we won't until we get rid of the political bribery from both sides of the argument. Here's an excerpt I wrote on the issue:
-------------------
I can’t believe that I have no strong opinion about climate change.
It’s not that I don’t want one, because I do.
It seems that at least “some” climate change is going on, but I can’t trust my politicians to give me an honest answer.
Did we cause it? Is it harmful? Can we change it? Should we change it? What are the effects on my grandchildren if we do nothing? Or if we do something???
I’d like an honest answer, Dammit, and I can’t get one.
Half of our politicians are being paid by the bad-guy industries to accept studies performed by scientists that also are paid by industry to keep the monkey off their back. The other half is being paid by the bribers on the other side of the issue, who are poised to reap billions when congress lays out its demand for new Green technologies, whether needed or not.
Another group owns stock in one industry or the other, and this whole politician thingy, well, it’s just temporary for them anyway.
-----------------
So folks, let's clean up our political system before we try to fix potentially non-existent problems. Table cap & trade.
Jack Lohman (Wed Jul 14 10:59:36 2010)
I have not checked the facts represented here but, if the post is true then Kagen voted for something that would be beneficial for the country but may hurt Wisconsin? Seems to me that is exactly what we want from our representatives, vote for what is right even if it may hurt some constituents. He ought to be applauded. Now, did anyone think that there may be substantial green (wind, solar, biomass) industries that could be vastly expanded and generate significantly more jobs then building and operating old technology power plants. According to Sourcewatch, Wisconsin has 70 coal fired power plants that employ 1,282 people on an operational basis. Big deal. Green employers would benefit from cap and trade as they would sell their credits to the older more polluting industries. Lest anything think cap and trade doesn't work, just look at what cap and trade did to clean up sulpher dioxide (acid rain) pollution and save thousands of lakes in the northeast US. Did the power industry ever realize the horrible consequences that were forecast from the terrible cap and trade law? Of course not. http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1085
The fact is that the naysayers about cap and trade economics have been wrong and are wrong about carbon cap and trade. It seems to me that cap and trade which combines market forces with pollution policy should be encouraged. the alternative is pure regulation or environmental disaster.
dave allen (Wed Jul 14 12:11:52 2010)
>>> "The fact is that the naysayers about cap and trade economics have been wrong and are wrong about carbon cap and trade...."
Dave, why can't we get that assurance from congress?
Jack Lohman (Wed Jul 14 17:41:45 2010)
Jack, Well...that's where a lot of the naysayers are.
Jack, could you look at some of the site below and tell me what you think of a carbon tax instead of the cap n trade?
http://www.carbontax.org/
Dean Weichmann (Thu Jul 15 07:04:35 2010)
Thanks for the link, Dean, but I'm really a poor one to do a comparison. My complaint is that ANY tax will further disadvantage US manufacturers unless it includes China, India, Mexico etc.
But as well, I want my congress to do this instead of taking bribes from the two sides of the issue. We are trying to work around a corrupt leadership, and could ourselves become corrupted by some on one side or the other.
We have leaders, dammit, why can't we trust them to fix this?
Jack Lohman (Thu Jul 15 08:11:36 2010)
Yeah, the problem of unfair trade.
That part is addressed at this part of the site. They refer to it as border adjustments.
http://www.carbontax.org/issues/border-adjustments/
Dean Weichmann (Thu Jul 15 08:20:46 2010)
Yea, and that's a help Dean, but it doesn't answer the issue: Do we need it, or is this a make-work issue? As I said in my piece above, I *want* to have an *educated* opinion on this, but the political corruption on both sides stands in the way of an honest resolution. Our politicians are no better than the corrupt politicians in the rest of the world and we MUST fix that before we make any significant moves.
Jack Lohman (Thu Jul 15 09:04:22 2010)
The Chinese are building dirty coal plants right now because they need the quick energy boost. But, at the same time they are the worlds largest investor in clean energy. Why the dichotomy? Because they know that they can't just go green and still power the country overnight. Neither can we. But, they have a focus that is to wean themselves from oil and eventually coal and they will do it. In a generation from now they will have well surpassed us in being clean and not dependent on foreign oil. Why can't we do it here? Same reason that we can't even adopt the metric system or get rid of price supports and other goodies, because someone thinks their ox is being gored (mistakenly or not) and is not willing to look at the larger good. We have 50 states and each one basically can exercise some veto over the other 49. The failure of cap and trade so far has nothing to do with the real economics or environmental questions. Only when everyone else is way ahead will we suddenly see the light. But this isn't the 1960s where we can just catch up. We will be permanently behind.
dave allen (Thu Jul 15 09:54:33 2010)
Why can't we do it here?
Dave, because our politicians are being paid to NOT do it!
I know that you and Dean are passionate about this, and some prefer we not drift into the political corruption of this, but you guys are fighting the "effect" and not the "root cause" of a corrupt decision. Until we get rid of the bribery, you'll have to live with it.
Jack Lohman (Thu Jul 15 10:09:32 2010)
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