In some regards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain have different views. In other cases they are playing off the exact same set of music. Today's issue comes from this article which frontpages the issue of whether the cap and trade program proposed by John McCain would effectively reduce carbon emissions. BO and HC seem to have identical plan's to the Arizona Senator.
COM (my moniker for all three of them without difference) would have an annual auction of carbon credits. A credit would probably be a metric ton of carbon dioxode, that's not too much, according to the EPA my current lifestyle expends about a metric ton of CO2 equivalent every 19 days. Anyway, these credits are limited to some fixed decreasing annual amount set by Congressional fiat. If a business produces carbon, and doesn't have a credit it faces a fine. That's the cap part. However, rather than pay the fine, the business can elect to buy more offsets on the free market. That's the trade part.
The obvious downside is that there is no way some businesses are going to be able to exist. As a result COM recognizes there will be an increase in unemployment.
Beyond that, I'm skeptical about whether the cap would really work. HRC and JMC are tight lipped on how they would spend the money. However, Barack Obama mentions that he would spend the revenue
generated by auctioning allowances will be used to support the development of clean energy, to invest in energy efficiency improvements, and to address transition costs, including helping American workers affected by this economic transition.So, it doesn't appear he would spend any money on enforcement, rather he would try to help unemployed workers find jobs. At least he's honest about it...