From the UK Telegraph:
Lithuanians are braced for a devastating increase in energy prices when the struggling Baltic nation shuts down its main nuclear power station to comply with EU demands on New Years Eve. …
Brussels regards the facility as a Chernobyl-sized threat and made its de-commissioning a condition of the country joining the European Union in 2004.
But as a result domestic fuel bills are projected to jump by 30 per cent in 2010, a severe blow after the economy contracted by almost one-fifth in the last 12 months.
Raimondas Kuodis, chief economist at Lithuanian’s central bank, said that soaring fuel bills would inflict further damage on the economy.
“A 30 per-cent hike in electricity prices will slash gross domestic product by one percentage point and will increase inflation by almost one percentage point,” he explained.
For many Lithuanians already battling rising unemployment and public spending cuts that have eaten into pensions and benefits, the higher fuel bills could prove intolerable.
Government deliberately getting rid of an energy source to satisfy political concerns creates a “devastating,” “intolerable” increase in energy prices. It would slash GDP and increase inflation. It would have an especially devastating effect on the poor people who are already struggling with increasing unemployment. It would be a “severe blow” all around.
All of these things are planned, on purpose, for the U.S. in cap-and-trade legislation. The ostensible idea behind it is to save the planet by crippling the evil United States of America, but that rationale ? exactly like the rationale behind the stimulus and healthcare boondoggles before it ? is just a Trojan Horse whose real goal is to greatly enrich Democrat cronies and unions.
