When capitalism doesn't cut it.
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created an energy crisis in Europe and global energy markets will never be the same.
- The new world energy order will be defined by government intervention on a scale not seen in recent memory.
- European governments will have to work hard to avoid excessive government interventions in energy markets that might exacerbate the energy crises
Actually, the increasingly threatening effects of climate change were a more significant wakeup call than war, although historically war has justified increased government intrusion in the economy. Now the world is facing a dual threat, either of which could lead to extinction or at least mass culling of the population and realignment of the ecosystem.
The dual threat implies that the world's leaders are caught in a double-bind trying to address both at once. Climate change requires concerted action, while war places the highest priority on ramping up use of existing energy sources, which are chiefly carbon-based.
Oilprice
Governments Can No Longer Afford To Leave Energy Security To Market Forces
Alex Kimani
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Governments-Can-No-Longer-Afford-To-Leave-Energy-Security-To-Market-Forces.html
See also
See also
Biden announces new efforts to fight climate change in Massachusetts visit
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/biden-climate-change-massachusetts-watch-live-stream-today-2022-07-20/
If you read Daniel Yergin's history of petroleum (The Prize) you'll discover that there has never been anything resembling a "free" market in that critical commodity. From the Rockefellers' monopoly ("Standard Oil") to OPEC, there has always been some thumb on the scale. The current situation is no different.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, classical economics says productive inputs are labor, capital and land, and neoclassical economics folds land into capital. Where's the consideration of energy in these models? Truly self-sabotaging...
Energy scarcity is self-sabotaging, if not fatal to the economy and civilization.
ReplyDeleteWe should bomb OPEC+ kill everyone there and just take the oil…,
ReplyDeleteThis is what a nation is there for. The global breakdown of national borders and national purpose is coming home to roost.
ReplyDeleteNations need to attain a state of systemic autarky. They have to be able to maintain the function of their nation regardless of what parts of the rest of the world does.
Not disagreeing that the oil industry is not a free market, but the current price for fossil fuels is 100% due to government interference and incompetence.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Putin for exposing the limits to green energy and the scam being perpetrated on us by power-hungry technocrats.