Who owns our democracy: Big Business or We the People?
Corporations -- led by Big Oil and Dirty Coal -- are trying to buy this election in plain sight. Their front groups are on target to spend more than $300 million to buy the election -- and this is after big polluters have already spent a fortune lobbying Congress, mounting a PR offensive after the BP oil spill, and trying to kill California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) with Propositions 23 and 26.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, there's been an unprecedented amount of outside spending during the 2010 mid-term elections, with a far greater increase in funds from conservative-leaning outside groups. Right-wing groups have spent $169.2 million so far -- up from $19.6 million in the last midterm (increased by a factor of 8.5). Analysis from Center for American Progress Action Fund* notes that more than $68 million of outside political spending is coming from dirty energy industries like Big Oil and coal-heavy electric utilities.
It's impossible to look past the corporate influence in this election cycle -- brought on by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling -- from big polluters and climate science deniers. It's glaring even at the state level: Out of eight Northeast states with contested governor's races, only Vermont has a race where both candidates affirm climate science. Anti-climate candidates in these key states could roll back the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) or state renewable energy standards.
There's no sugarcoating the chances for future comprehensive climate policy in the next two years. In fact, we anticipate an all-out attack on the EPA and the Clean Air Act by several House and Senate members.
But anger and despair can't lead to inaction or apathy. Voting still matters for the climate movement. Why?
*Editor's Note: This post originally accredited analysis on polluters' ad spending to the Center for American Progress, but it is actually a product of that organization's 501(c)4 affiliate, the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
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Karen Middleton: 2010: The Year of Talking About Women and Elections
You will get the very same thing, NO CHANGE. I bankster can destroy what a million people rubbing stick together saving matches
Is that the change you can believe in?
If we want to make progress on the climate and energy front, supporting these close races can make a difference.
Amazing that anyone in California would be against a bill that will, according to Rebecca Lefton at Center for American Progress, “stimulate innovation and efficiency,” “help the state become a technological leader in the global marketplace,” “improve our energy security, create new business opportunities and more jobs,” and “provide immediate benefits to the health and welfare of residents by reducing local pollutants.”
Read her post -- and what more than 118 economists say about the policies California has for leading green jobs growth-- at http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/19/proposition-23-big-oil-economists-ab32/.
The key thing to keep in mind is that, according to CARB, AB 32 will do NOTHING to help global warming, will cost jobs and have a negative effect on the economy. This comes from the very people who drew it up!
•A 60 percent increase in your electricity bill according to the Southern California Public Power Authority.
•An 8 percent increase in your natural gas bill according to CARB’s economic analysis.
•$50,000 more for the price of a new home according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
•$3.7 billion a year more for fuel according to Sierra Research.
•A $1,000-$3,000 additional cost for a new car according to CARB and automaker studies.
A study conducted for the California Small Business Roundtable found that AB 32 regulations would cost small business alone nearly $200 billion, and would result in more than 1 million lost jobs.
The more I learn about AB 32, the more I fear it. It just gets worse. Vote yes on Prop23.
“”2 Guys on the Bay Area Transportation Board told the CARB people, “If you try to do what you are going to do(AB 32) we’ll have gas at $9.07 a gallon and we have freeway tolls at up to $4,500 a year to drive during rush hour.”
“Part of the plan is to stop suburban development, get people to stop driving, make driving too expensive for people to live out there, force them to live in high-rises, condos, in the city.”
The video has John and Ken explaining why they think this bill is the most important measure on the ballot.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39853750
AB 32 does not target the pollution that causes health issues. It goes after global warming, but it can’t help global warming either.
Proposition 23 seeks to suspend AB 32 to protect Califonia’s already shrinking economy.
The enforcement of AB 32 will cause an economic disaster for California that will keep other states from passing such legislation, and probably do more harm for the cause than it will help the environment.
Points to ponder on AB 32 / Prop 23:
° CARB over-estimated diesel emmisions by 340%. What else have they over-estimated?
° Key CARB personnel caught lying about credentials and then failing to reveal this after it is discovered internally before AB 32 passed, until after AB 32 passed. What else are they lying about and with-holding?
° CARB has admitted that California alone cannot have an impact on reducing global warming and CO2 emissions, and that it will hurth the economy and cost jobs.
° LAO (CA Legislative Analyst Office) stated: CA economy at large will be adversely affected by implementation of climate-related policies that are not in place elsewhere. (Letter to Dan Logue, 13 May 2010)
° 5.5% unemployment for 4 consecutive quarters has occurred 7 times since 2005, 14 times since 1999, and 22 times since 1987.
http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=164