Today, the director of the Congressional Budget Office warned the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that proposed climate change legislation would impose "significant costs" on America's GDP and employment.  That’s not exactly what proponents had promised. According to CBO chief Douglas Elmendorf, the Waxman-Markey bill passed in the House last June would reduce GDP by between one and three quarters of a percent by 2020, and between 1 and 3.5% by 2050.  To the average household that might equate annually to $160 by 2020 and $925 by 2050 – hardly the “cost of a postage stamp” promised by the White House.And the CBO director admitted the obvious -- that even those figures, which represent just a fraction of many economists’ predictions, are likely somewhat understated:"The uncertainties are very large, even for 2020, and they get larger over time” He identified one of those uncertainties of “the cost of...(Read Full Post)