Obama’s Energy Plan: Impoverish America

Obama’s Energy Plan: Impoverish America | National Review Online:
This is harmful and absurd for many reasons. 
First, by shutting down existing coal-fired power plants, it will effectively destroy trillions of dollars of private property. 
Second, since those plants supply about 40 percent of America’s electric power, they will need to be replaced at great cost, which will be borne by ratepayers. 
Third, all proposed replacements for coal are significantly more expensive, so using them will drive rates up further. 
Fourth, increasing the cost of electric power is one of the most regressive forms of taxation possible, since, for example, stockbrokers making $30 million per year will pay nearly the same additional amount as families making $30,000 per year, despite a thousand fold difference in income. 
Fifth, as a form of business taxation, increasing electric rates preferentially targets companies that produce real goods over those that profit through speculation or the collection of legal costs. 
Sixth, by increasing the costs of American goods, the inflation of electricity prices will make U.S. industry less competitive, causing factories to shut down and throwing millions of Americans out of work. 
And seventh, by depressing the American economy, the plan will cause the loss of massive amounts of federal and state income-tax revenues, thereby accelerating the nation’s descent into bankruptcy.