Articles from the CQ Researcher

Two articles from the CQ researcher:

Feldstein, Martin. "Cap-and-Trade: All Cost, No Benefit." Washington Post, June 1, 2009, www.washingtonpost.com.
Krugman, Paul. "Betraying the Planet." New York Times, June 29, 2009, www.nytimes.com.


Feldstein's article argues that the negative effects of Cap and Trade will greatly outweigh its positive effects. Feldstein claims that the main objective of the Cap and Trade system is to attempt to reduce the possibility of global warming. However, Cap and Trade's minimal impact on preventing global warming will be greatly outweighed by the difficulties it would impose on American households with increased taxes. Also, if the bill were passed it would be unfair to many companies, because only certain companies would be favored and given more trade credits while all would be given a certain cap. The only industries that would benefit from such a system would be electricity companies, while all others suffer. Throughout the entire article, Feldstein explains and repeatedly restates how the biological rewards of the Cap and Trade system would be greatly outweighed by the negative consequences of the system.

In Krugman's article, there is no mention of the economy. Many representatives (212) voted against the bill, but not for economic reasons. The main point that brought about disagreement and raised questions was the fact that these representatives claimed that there was not a problem which Cap and Trade would fix. They saw nothing wrong or unusual in the patterns of the release of greenhouse gases. When people explained the problems of the environment to the public and these representatives, it seemed as if they didn't care. Krugman goes as far as to call these representatives "traitors" who are committing "treason against the planet."

While Feldstein's article is less closed-minded and his points are researched more thoroughly, Krugman had a stronger, more passionate argument for a different reason to be angry with the Cap and Trade situation.


This video helped me understand how the Cap and Trade system actually works. Before I was very confused about the subject and why it was so significant.