The Economist this week leads its United States section with an overview of the cap and trade bill working its way through the House. It’s called Waxman-Markey and it’s not as great as you might think.

On May 15th Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, the Democratic point-men on climate change in the House of Representatives, unveiled a bill that would give away 85% of carbon permits for nothing, with only 15% being auctioned. The bill’s supporters say this colossal compromise was necessary to win the support of firms that generate dirty energy or use a lot of it, and to satisfy congressmen from states that mine coal or roll steel.

That’s opposed to President Obama’s plan, which would have raised hundreds of billions of dollars, “most of which Mr Obama planned to give back to voters.”

Overall, ordinary Americans will endure price hikes just as severe as they would have under Mr Obama’s plan, while receiving far less compensation. [American Enterprise Institute analyst Alan Vaird] likens giving permits to polluters to handing the proceeds of a tobacco tax to the shareholders of Philip Morris.

Is this climate change we can believe in?