Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Breakin' It Down IV: The Final Billions

In previous episodes (Breakin' It Down I, II & III), our heroes told you the ways they would spend your hard earned pesos: health care, education, defense and keeping those pesky Canadians up north. (Damn it! I specifically asked them for a sit n' spin—where's that????)

Anyway, in this final look (courtesy of Newsweek) we discover that all three candidates are in agreement as to the third and final area that they would lavish the most money on for their budget: Energy.

Obama: He wants to create a green job corps, double the money we put toward research for clean energy and establish a federal clean tech venture capital fund for $50 billion. (Does this mean Kermit can come out of retirement?) Overall, he has a 10 year plan with $150 billion pledged to take us to the next energy level. There's also something about auctioning carbon emission rights to offset costs. Total—$60 billion/in the first four years

Clinton: Clinton also has a 10 year, $150 billion plan. Go figure. Part one—$50 billion for an energy fund (courtesy, in part, of higher taxes on the oil companies. YAHOO!). Part two—a doubling of the funding for basic energy research. Part three—another $20 billion for something called Green Vehicle Bonds. Total—$58 billion/in the first four years

McCain: Way back in Aught Seven, Mac cosponsored the Climate Stewardship Innovation Act. Them's a lot of pretty words the mean $3.7 billion in federal subsidies are headed toward building new nuclear power plants (Look Ma! I'm glowing!). Going even further into the past, in 2005 he sponsored an Energy Policy Act that he wants to revive an amendment on. This would put $1.5 billion to turning greenhouse gas levels back to 2000 levels by 2010. Were the levels eight years ago that great? Total—$5 billion in the first four years.

There you have it folks. It's all so much clearer to you now, isn't it?

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