What do you call Bankrupting Coal? A good start.

A tape of Sen. Obama talking to his campaign staff in San Fran surfaced. These folks man the office at the San Francisco Chronicle.

CBS News

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” Obama said. “It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.”

An Obama spokesperson said that Obama’s remarks were taken out of context and pointed out that in another part of the interview, Obama said that the idea of eliminating coal plants was “an illusion.”

The "illusion" is that talking about destroying the coal industry and getting elected is a possibility. Actually destroying the coal industry after being elected is the reality, not the illusion. The CBS Obama spokespeople quoting other Obama spokesperson go on:

“The point Obama is making is that we need to transition from coal burning power plants built with old technology to plants built with advanced technologies--and that is exactly the action that will be incentivized under a cap and trade program,” the spokesperson said. “We know that additional work is necessary to develop and deploy these technologies. That is why Obama has argued for a robust funding program for carbon capture and sequestration. It’s strikingly similar to what McCain has said (in fact McCain goes a step further saying he wants to transition completely away from coal).”

The real story is the escalating costs of the Obama plan -- that his energy alternatives will cost trillions of dollars to rate payers. His use of regulation and taxation to ruin industry may start with coal but that is just the beginning. Regulation will stop the use of Nuclear power. Regulation will force the adoption of expensive alternative fuels. Regulation will stop oil drilling.

Folks, I am all for a alternative energy future. What I'm not for is crashing the economy now.