The Boring Made Dull: Cap-n-Trade: A Massive Tax Hike On The Way

The only real appeal of cap and trade schemes is that it gives the government increased control over the economy and raises government revenues in a convoluted way so that us rubes don’t make the connection that we’re being taxed.

So, spare me the reproaches that it’s not a tax – the government is mandating a change in business practice that generates revenue for the government. The government also controls who gets a cut of the money. Certainly sounds like a tax.

This will likely have the added bonus of closing down any bit of economic activity that relies on coal generated electricity, and energy costs are going to increase dramatically. Sure, the government will rebate some of the swag to the lower classes.

Keep in mind that the Democratic party regards making more people dependent on government as a feature, not a bug.

Hanging Out With Librarians « So Many Books

In the morning I went to a session from a library that is using YouTube videos as part of their instructional sessions for new students. For instance, they showed us a video of the Blue Man Group on global warming and then asked us to pretend we were freshmen for a moment as they demonstrated how they got students to use the video to think about where information came from and how to tell if it was reliable and what they might do to research the topic further. It was interesting but I am not sure how it could be translated to a law library.