Will The Environmental Protection Agency Destroy The Economy?

Congress has thus far failed to pass global warming legislation due to concerns about its high costs and negative impact on the economy. The debate, however, is not over. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is attempting to bypass the legislative process and regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. According to Ben Lieberman:

The EPA’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) is nothing less than the most costly, complicated, and unworkable regulatory scheme ever pro­posed. Under ANPR, nearly every product, business, and building that uses fossil fuels could face requirements that border on the impossible. The overall cost of this agenda would likely exceed that of the legislation rejected by Congress, reaching well into the trillions of dollars while destroying millions of jobs in the manufacturing sector. The ANPR is clearly not in the best interests of Americans, and the EPA should not proceed to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and final rule based upon it. . . .

The impact on the overall economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), is substantial. The cumulative GDP losses for 2010 to 2029 approach $7 trillion. Single-year losses exceed $600 billion in 2029, more than $5,000 per house­hold. Job losses are expected to exceed 800,000 in some years, and exceed at least 500,000 from 2015 through 2026. Note that these are net job losses, after any jobs created by compliance with the regulations–so-called green jobs–are taken into account. Hardest-hit are manufacturing jobs, with losses approaching 3 million. Particularly vulnerable are jobs in durable manufacturing (28 percent job losses), machinery manufacturing (57 percent), textiles (27.6 percent), electrical equipment and appli­ances (22 percent), paper (36 percent), and plastics and rubber products (54 percent). It should be noted that since the EPA rule is unilateral and few other nations are likely to follow the U.S. lead, many of these manufacturing jobs will be out­sourced overseas.

Continue reading here. . . .

“Beyond Our Grasp”

Quoting C. S. Lewis:

“The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God’s care, as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is as foolish as care for a day in the next thousand years. In neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything.”

Atheists Sue To Gain Freedom From Religion

A group of atheists filed a lawsuit on December 30th to bar prayer and references to God at the swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama. They argue that the phrase “so help me God,” used consistently in inaugural oaths, should be stricken from the ceremony. The lawsuit targets the oath, the invocation and the benediction. They seem to think that the First Amendment is about “freedom from religion” rather than “freedom of religion.”

Read more here. . . .

Educating For Ignorance

Quoting Walter E. Williams:

“In 1993, a Department of Education survey found that among college graduates 50 percent of whites and more than 80 percent of blacks couldn’t state in writing the argument made in a newspaper column; 56 percent could not calculate the right tip; 57 percent could not figure out how much change they should get back after putting down $3.00 to pay for a 60-cent bowl of soup and a $1.95 sandwich, and over 90 percent could not use a calculator to find the cost of carpeting a room. But not to worry. A 1999 survey taken by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni of seniors at the nation’s top 55 liberal-arts colleges and universities found that 98 percent could identify rap artist Snoop Dogg and Beavis and Butt-Head, but only 34 percent knew George Washington was the general at the battle of Yorktown. With limited thinking abilities and knowledge of our heritage, we Americans set ourselves up as easy prey for charlatans, hustlers and quacks.”

What Will The Future Look Like?

How many of us can look back over the past year and say that “On January 1, 2008, I predicted everything that happened to me during the past year”? In other words, the last 12 months have held no surprises. There were no unanticipated events.

It is, of course, unreasonable to expect to know everything that is going to happen to you in the future. Many people have been caught completely off-guard by the events of this past year. Whatever happens, however, in times like these a Christian should be able to say: “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)

If you have set the Lord before you, your focus will be on living in His presence. As Christians, we have to consciously put ourselves into this position. We must look at things through the right perspective. That view exists only in the presence of God. We must determine to set God before us in all circumstances. It is only from this position that we cannot be shaken.

Knowing God is more important than knowing the future. If you set the Lord before you – whatever the future may hold – you know that you will not face it alone.