A Typical Day if Cap and Trade Becomes Law

By Denny Banister

Your alarm clock rings ($), you get out of bed and shuffle to the bathroom to shower ($), shampoo ($) and shave ($).  You dress in freshly laundered clothes ($) and head down to the kitchen for breakfast.  You pour your coffee ($), butter your toast ($) and scramble your eggs ($).  After breakfast, you brush your teeth ($), go to your car and drive to work ($). 

At the office, the heating ($) and air conditioning ($) keep the temperature constant, but some things have changed.  Coworkers who you thought would be retired by now are still working, while those who left the office were not replaced.  You take a coffee break ($) and talk with others in the office about rumors of potential ‘downsizing’ in the near future.  You return to your office, turn on your computer ($) and print important emails ($).  After lunch ($) you finish your day’s work and drive home ($).

You get the mail from the mailbox ($), pick up the newspaper ($), and go inside, heading straight to the refrigerator for a cold drink ($).  You kick off your shoes, reset the thermostat of your heating/air conditioning ($), collapse into your recliner and turn on the TV ($).  Your telephone rings ($), and your friend invites you to dinner – back on go the shoes, off goes the TV, you start the car ($) and drive to the restaurant to meet your friend.  You order a drink ($), appetizer ($) and your dinner ($) and have a great meal and visit.  Don’t forget the tip ($).

Back to the car, you drive ($) to the supermarket for groceries ($) and head back home.  Before getting ready for bed, you go through the mail and, finding bills, write some checks ($) and stamp ($) some envelopes ($).  You noticed the checkbook balance was lower than you expected, and glanced at your budget to see what item was responsible for your new extra expenses.  You realize it isn’t one or two budget items; it is each and every budget item that is more expensive.  You go to bed, but toss and turn.

While fictitious, the above story is an all-too-real example of what your future might look like if the Cap and Trade legislation in Congress becomes law.  Every dollar sign ($) equals a cash register ‘cha-ching’ and each represents increased costs from multiple sources as Cap and Trade makes the cost of everything you consume increase.  Cap and Trade will result in sharply higher energy costs which, in turn, will be passed along to you, the consumer.  ‘Cha-ching’ indeed!

(Denny Banister, of Jefferson City, Mo., is the assistant director of public affairs for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.)