Study: Obama's EPA Rules Will
Disproportionately Hurt the Poor
by Warner Todd Huston 4 Jun 2014
A new study finds that the harsh new
carbon emissions rules President Obama's Environmental Protection
Agency released this month will hurt the middle class far more than
the rich. However, while the new rules will cause the middle class to take a
hit, America's
poorest will be hit hardest of all.
The study by The Manhattan
Institute discovered that the top 20% of earners pay only 4% of
their income on energy while the bottom 20% pay a whopping 24%. This means the
massive hikes in electricity rates expected under the new rules will
disproportionately affect the poor.
The study discovered that "those in
the lowest fifth of income earners spend the greatest share of their incomes on
energy (defined as natural gas, electricity, and gasoline and motor oil).
Earners in the lowest income quintile spend 24 percent of their pre-tax income
on energy, while those in the highest income quintile spend 4 percent—the same
as in 2012. Even though high-earners spend more on net, it is the poor who will
have their budgets squeezed as they struggle to pay for gas and
electricity."
Even while Obama's tough new standards
will hurt our most vulnerable citizens, the study also finds that the EPA's new
rules won't really do a thing to stop the very global warming that Obama is
worried about.
"The pain inflicted on the poorest Americas will
not reduce global emissions," the Manhattan Institute report says.
"The EPA’s new rules will have a
negligible [effect] when it comes to soaring global carbon dioxide emissions
and surging global demand for coal," Manhattan Institute senior fellow
Robert Bryce said.
The report finds that global CO2 emissions
rose by 723 million tons in 2011. The Obama administration’s new EPA rules
would cut U.S.
emissions by approximately that much over the course of the next 16 years.
Further, Obama's imposition of
economically harmful rules on our own country won't do a thing to put a dent in
emissions by other leading nations such as India
or China.
China emits the most CO2 in the world. As the
report notes, "in a six-year period, China’s coal-related emissions
increased by four times the size of the reduction that the EPA is seeking over
16 years." Obama's new rules are essentially a drop in the bucket.
Cheap and abundant energy is one of the
key ingredients that can bring a nation the sort of prosperity the USA has enjoyed
for decades. Naturally rising powers such as China,
India,
and other nations won't easily give up their own piece of the pie to satisfy
Obama's worries over global warming.
"The EPA and the Obama Administration
should rethink this meaningless, job-killing regulation," the Manhattan
Institute says. "The inevitable rise in utility prices will
disproportionately affect those with low incomes, a group that has been
continually hurt by the slow economic recovery. If, as Mr. Obama has stated
before, 'inequality is the defining challenge of our time,' it makes no sense
to push regulations that hurt the poor most and the wealthiest least."
Environmental Protection Agency
Carol M.
Browner was an administrator for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the energy czar for the Barack Obama administration, a director at the Climate Reality Project, and is a senior fellow, director at
the Center for American Progress.
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for
American Progress.
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society, and a supporter for the Center for
American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for
American Progress, the Climate Reality Project,
the ClimateWorks Foundation, the Aspen Institute (think tank), the Urban
Institute (think tank), the New America Foundation,
the Hudson Institute (think tank), and the International Rescue Committee.
Albert A.
Gore Jr. is the chairman for the Climate Reality Project,
and a friend of Orin S. Kramer.
Orin S.
Kramer is a friend of Albert A. Gore Jr.,
a director at the Climate Reality Project,
and was an administrator for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
Lee M.
Thomas was a director at the Climate Reality Project,
and an administrator for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
William
K. Reilly is the chairman emeritus for the ClimateWorks
Foundation, and was an administrator for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
William
A. Nitze is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and was an assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
William
D. Ruckelshaus is a life trustee at the Urban
Institute (think tank), and was an administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Terry
Tamminen was a senior fellow & climate policy director for the New America Foundation, and the secretary for the California Environmental Protection Agency.
Ravenel
Boykin Curry IV is a director at the New America Foundation,
and a trustee at the Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research.
Charles
H. Brunie is a trustee emeritus for the Hudson
Institute (think tank), and was the chairman for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
Herbert
I. London is the president emeritus for the Hudson
Institute (think tank), and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
Maurice
R. Greenberg is an overseer at the International Rescue
Committee, and a trustee at the Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research.
Clifford
S. Asness is a director at the International Rescue
Committee, a trustee at the Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research, and supported same-sex marriage
in New York.
Daniel S.
Loeb supported same-sex marriage
in New York,
and is a trustee at the Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research.
Robert
Skidelsky was a trustee at the Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research, and is a member of the House of
Lords.
Charles
D. Powell is an independent member of the House of
Lords, and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think
tank).
William
A. Nitze is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and was an assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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