The St. Petersburg Times Politifact reported last month that the Republicans were telling a “Pants on Fire” falsehood by claiming that cap and trade would cost the average household $3,100 per year. MIT professor John Reilly, whose study the GOP used to make its estimate, told Politifact that the cost would be $215 per year. Today, I reported that Reilly admitted that he made a “boneheaded mistake in an excel spread sheet”, and, therefore, the cost would be $800, nearly four times more than Politifact reported. What’s more, Reilly’s estimate jumps to $3,900 per household when you include the $3,100 that the average household would have to pay in higher energy prices due to cap-and-trade. Reilly believes that because the government will be ‘returning’ that $3,100 per household to the economy–whether through rebates or government programs, it matters not–it doesn’t ‘cost’ the average household anything. Politifact apparently accepts this odd reasoning. Here’s how Politifact’s editor Bill Adair responded this evening to another email asking if he would correct his false report:
His email signature contains the Politifact motto: “PolitiFact: Journalism that tells the truth”. Perhaps Adair should add “when we get around to it” to the end of the motto. Update: Adair emails:
For the record, I first emailed Adair and his reporter with information reported in my article on April 15 and April 16.
