Nonetheless, I think there’s a fair amount of scaremongering going on about the costs of cap and trade. I get off the Jim Manzi train when he says that Waxman-Markey will be “a terrible deal for American taxpayers” because “it is projected to impose annual costs of about $1,100 per household (a little less than 1% of total consumption) by 2050.” (That’s from the EPA estimate.) That $1,100 looks like a lot, but of course the country is projected be almost three times richer in 2050 than it is now. Average household consumption in 2050 will be $164,348.
In 2050, GDP without Waxman-Markey is projected to be $35,377,000,000,000. GDP with Waxman-Markey is projected to be $34,918,000,000,000.
