|                You can                thank all of your friends (and enemies) who voted for Obama , for                the predicament explained below that we may soon be faced                with.  Just one more of your freedoms and liberties thrown                out the window.                                Thinking about selling your                house? -                 A                look at H.R.  2454 (Cap and trade bill)                 Here's the link to the bill                in case you think this might be false.                 This is unbelievable! Only                the beginning.....                 Wow!  Home owners take                note & tell your friends and relatives who are home                owners!!!  Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act,                you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to                comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this                Act.                 H.R.  2454, the "Cap                & Trade" bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also                passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us                has ever experienced.  The Congressional Budget Office                (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the                average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per                year.  No one is excluded.  However, once the lower                classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure these                voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to                offset this new cost.  Thus, you Mr.  and Mrs.                 Middle Class America will have to pay even more since additional                tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.                                But wait.  This awful                bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more                surprises in it.                 Probably the worst one is                this:  A year from now you won't be able to sell your house.                                Yes, you read that                right.  The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if                you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your                home, then you can sell it..  But, if not, then forget                it.  Even pre-fabricated homes ("mobile homes") are                included.                 In effect, this bill                prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the                EPA administrator.                 To get this permission, you                will have to have the energy efficiency of your home                measured.  Then the government will tell you what your new                energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make                modifications to your home under the retrofit                provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water                efficiency requirements.  Then you will have to get your home                measured again and get a license (called a "label" in the Act)                that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency                rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on                your refrigerator or air conditioner If you don't get a high                enough rating, you can't sell.  And, the EPA administrator                is authorized to raise the standards every year, even above                the automatic energy efficiency increases built into the Act.                                The EPA administrator,                appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade                program (AKA the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009")                and is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations                and standards he alone determines to be in the government's best                interest.  Requirements are set low initially so the bill                will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher                new standards every year.  The Act itself contains annual                required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial                residences and buildings..  However, the EPA administrator                can set higher standards at any time.                 Sect.  202: Building                Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to increase                the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America .                                Beginning 1 year after                enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless                you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency                standards of this Act.  You had better sell soon, because the                standards will be raised each year and will be really hard (i.e.,                ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years.  Oh, goody!  The Act                allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand                dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements if you                meet certain energy efficiency levels.  But, wait, the State                can set additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the                grants.  You should expect requirements such as "can't have                an income of more than $50K per year", "home selling price can't                be more than $125K", or anything else to target the upper middle                class (and that's YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the                grants Most of us won't get a dime and will have to pay the entire                cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets.  More transfer                of wealth, more "change you can believe in."                 Sect.  204: Building                Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program                that for each individual residence will identify the achieved                energy efficiency performance for "at least 90 percent of the                residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment                of this Act." This means that within five years, 90% of all                residential homes in the U.S.  must be measured and                labeled.  The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to                enforce the labeling program.  The Secretary of the                Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help                enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course,                be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year.  Oh,                the label will be like a license for your car..  You will be                required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home                and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this                label.  And, just like your car license, you will probably be                required to get a new label every so often - maybe every                year.  But, the government estimates the cost of measuring                the energy efficiency of your home should only cost about $200                each time.  Remember what they said about the auto smog                inspections when they first started: that in California it would                only cost $15.  That was when the program started.  Now                the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333%                increase.  Expect the same from the home labeling program.                                Sect.  304: Greater                Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy                efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates                at 304(d) that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and                local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy                efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the                federal government that their state and/or local codes have been                brought into full compliance with the National Building Code                energy efficiency          standards.. | 
1 comment:
This is legislation that Kratovil voted YES on. Does a lepord change its spots ?
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