Study: Obama's EPA Rules Will Disproportionately Hurt the Poor

Study: Obama's EPA Rules Will Disproportionately Hurt the Poor

by Warner Todd Huston 4 Jun 2014

http://cdn.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/04/Study-Obama-s-EPA-Rules-Will-Disproportionately-Hurt-the-Poor

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).