Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade’s Biggest Losers: Manufacturing
Nicolas Loris /
We’re in one of the worst economic downturns our nation has ever faced, and policymakers have rightly expressed their concerns about losing more jobs. Fearing that we’re losing too many jobs overseas through trade pacts, 106 Members of Congress are seeking to revamp U.S. trade policy:
Many Democrats on Capitol Hill, however, are unhappy about manufacturing job losses that they blame on trade pacts such as NAFTA and say they do not want to approve any more agreements without some safeguards.”
So, politicians want to protect manufacturing jobs, yet they are hastily moving forward with a cap and trade bill that will deal a crushing blow to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The higher energy costs from cap and trade will kill economic activity and jobs. This is particularly true of manufacturing jobs.
Just how bad will it be? Economists in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis estimate that manufacturing jobs will fall on average by 400,000. Peak year unemployment in the manufacturing sector alone rises by almost 1.4 million.