How much will Cap and Trade cost us?

Ace has the story, and backstory. End total? $4000 per family a year.

But, it gets better. Apparently we'll be getting some of that money back. Well, not actually "back" but the government will spend it in a beneficial way, so we'll basically be getting it's "value" back in services. Win/win!

t is not really a matter of returning it or not, no matter what happens this revenue gets recycled into the economy some way. In that regard, whether the money is specifically returned to households with a check that says "your share of GHG auction revenue", used to cut someone's taxes, used to pay for some government services that provide benefit to the public, or simply used to offset the deficit (therefore meaning lower Government debt and lower taxes sometime in the future when that debt comes due) is largely irrelevant in the calculation of the "average" household. Each of those ways of using the revenue has different implications for specific households but the "average" affect is still the same. [...] The only way that money does not get recycled to the "average" household is if it is spent on something that provides no useful service for anyone--that it is true government waste.

Genius!