I wrote a blog post in 2015 shortly after the horrific Islamic terrorist attacks in France that was entitled,
"No One Is Liberal When It Is Their Life".
That was when ultra liberal Francois Hollande was President of France.
Hollahde was a committed liberal socialist.
A key platform that he ran on for the Presidency in 2012 was a promise for the early withdrawal of French combat troops from Afghanistan.
As recently as two months before the attacks he spoke out against those European countries that were attempting to limit the number of Middle Eastern migrants into their countries.
Those attacks quickly resulted in Hollande reversing course 180 degrees from his prior statements.
This is what I wrote at that time.
It has been said that "there are no atheists in foxholes". When the bullets and bombs start flying in war those in the middle of it are looking for a higher power to see them through harm's way.
It seems to me that there also exists a corollary aphorism.
There are no liberals when it is your life and security at risk.
If you don't believe it, look no further than the actions of French President Francois Hollande in the aftermath of the horrific ISIS attacks in Paris several weeks ago.
This is what Hollande said the morning after the attacks.
"We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless."
I guess that stands in contrast to the pitiful effort that President Obama has done in confronting ISIS.
Hollande also quickly ordered a state of emergency and closed France's borders. The first time that had occurred since 1944.
That is quite a change from his views in September (two months prior) isn't it?
It seems we are seeing a similar transformation in Europe in their views regarding the use of fossil fuels.
Dreams of a "green future" and having disdain for the use of fossil fuels sounds great as long as you have power to heat and cool your home, run your factories and turn on your hair dryer.
It is not so great when you find out your lives and your economies simply can't exist without them.
Europe is discovering this very quickly.
Who ever thought that we would see this headline?
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| Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-25/germany-pushes-for-g-7-reversal-on-fossil-fuels-in-climate-blow#xj4y7vzkg |
As winter nears we will see the full dimensions of this problem reveal itself in even starker detail in Germany and the rest of Europe.
This is what France's top three energy companies are telling its consumers right now.
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| Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/06/26/french-energy-giants-tell-households-ration-supplies-ahead-looming/ |
One more perspective on what may be coming.
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| Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-mistakes-were-made-why-germany-may-freeze-in-the-dark-this-winter/ |
You may recall that Germany had previously idled most of its coal-fired electric generator plants and half of its nuclear power plants as of December 31, 2021 (talk about bad timing!).
It had planned to close the rest of its nuclear power plants this year.
As I have stated before in these pages, I fully support developing newer, cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy. Count me as someone who would love to see a "green" perpetual motion machine to power everything man needs on the planet.
I have great confidence that given free markets economies and human ingenuity we will find better sources of energy to power our lives. This has been proven time and time again over the course of human history.
However, we have never voluntarily abandoned something that is accessible and affordable for something that is speculative and expensive.
Energy drives the economy.
Ignoring that fact puts everything and everyone at risk on this planet.
Europe is beginning to see the reality of all of this.
Most of Europe foolishly bought into the climate change agenda and then compounded that mistake by relying on Russia for its oil and gas needs.
In the meantime, China must be laughing at the insanity of all of it.
China and India also recently announced that they intend to increase coal output by another 700 million tons by the end of next year.
To put that in context, that additional increase alone is enough to completely wipe all of the reductions the United States has achieved in carbon emissions since 2005 until today.
That reduction is not trivial---the United States has reduced carbon emissions almost 25% over that period despite an increasing population and economy. The increase also was greater after President Trump took us out of the Paris climate accords.
Looking at it from a broader perspective, this graph shows carbon emissions from 2000-2020 for the United States, Europe, China and India.
The argument is that banning fossil fuels are necessary to save the planet and humanity.
However, aren't China and India part of the same planet?
Since 2000, Europe and the United States have reduced carbon emissions by 2.5 billion tonnes.
At the same time, China and India have increased carbon emissions by 9.7 billion tonnes.
It seems that the Western economies have been playing a loser's game for over 20 years.
It is also not going to get any better looking at where China and India are headed.
The problem for Europe may soon not be just a reduced quality of life due to the "green agenda" but life itself may become more tenuous without energy to keep people warm and factories and farms running.
Energy and the economy are inextricably linked.
Energy prices are also built into every aspect of the economy.
Consider recent increases in the Producer Price Index (year over year) in various European countries. These price increase will undoubtedly be heading to the European consumer soon.
By comparison, the most recent PPI for the United States was 10.8%.
You have to wonder how much longer before we understand the truth of the following aphorism.
"No one cares about Greta Thunberg when they are freezing or starving to death".
Greta Thunberg made lots of headlines in 2019 when she was telling elected officials of Western countries they had failed her generation on climate change because "you did not act in time."
She was right about not acting in time.
She just got the issue wrong.
Paging Greta Thunberg. Paging Greta Thunberg. Paging Great Thunberg.
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