However, even with that astronomical financial support, the world still depends on hydrocarbons for 84% of its energy needs—down only 2% since governments started binge spending on renewables 20 years ago.
What is really going on here?
Doug Casey: It’s essentially the triumph of pseudoscience and aberrant psychology over physics and critical thinking.
The Greens, who have pushed all this through, say they love the Earth and want to “save” it. But in fact, they mostly just hate people. It’s not only a question of forcing the adoption of uneconomic power sources. Many of the same people have said they’re interested in reducing the Earth’s population by 50 to 90%. The idea is not to increase people’s standard of living but simply to reduce their consumption and perhaps their numbers.
It’s a consequence of Leftists having captured the world’s school systems over the last several generations. Professors, who are in a position of authority, indoctrinate the kids. And the kids talk to each other within the academic bubble and feel that what they’ve been told is fact, as opposed to opinion. Their feelings are reinforced by what they hear from the media and the government.
Wind and solar are fine for selected uses, special situations, and isolated environments. But they make no sense as a form of mass power generation for an industrial society. Not only are they extremely costly to build and run, but the power that they produce is intermittent and unreliable. They require huge and uneconomic investment in battery technologies or the maintenance of conventional hydrocarbon power plants for when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. Which is most of the time…
International Man: Even with enormous government support, electric vehicles (EVs) can barely compete with gasoline vehicles.
According to J.D. Power, a consumer research firm, the average EV still costs at least 21% more than the average gasoline vehicle, even with government support. President Trump has promised that he will end subsidies for EVs.
Can EVs compete with gasoline vehicles on a level playing field?
Doug Casey: First, let me say that the government shouldn’t subsidize anything. They create distortions in the market, resulting in misallocations of capital. The result is that a few politically protected types benefit while the overall wealth of the society declines.
I don’t have anything against EVs. They can be much faster and handle much better than gas vehicles. For selected uses, such as within cities, where EVs can be charged easily, they certainly have a place in the automotive ecosystem. And over time, EV batteries will improve, giving them lower costs, better performance, lower weight, and longer range.
But internal combustion engines are constantly becoming more efficient as well. Deciding the most economic and generally satisfactory technology should be up to the producers and the users, not bureaucrats. It’s a matter for physics, not politics, to determine.
Subsidizing uneconomic vehicles just wastes capital, lowers the general standard of living, and slows progress. There are serious problems that EV advocates don’t want to consider, such as the amount of extra electrical power needed to run these vehicles. That will require more generating plants, almost all coal or gas fired. And a vastly improved grid to distribute that power effectively.
The premature and forced adoption of EVs will likely result in bankruptcies throughout the automotive business. Which will slow progress, wipe out many investors, and unemploy many workers. Here’s a radical thought: The government should have nothing—zero—to do with cars.
International Man: Some have argued that the climate hysteria is a globalist scheme to tax and control ordinary people while enriching corrupt insiders.
What are your thoughts?
Doug Casey: We’ve had two tremendous mass hysterias in the last decade.
One revolves around health, with a novel disease and the creation of a vaccine said to fight it. Second is the climate hysteria, which promises to be even more disruptive.
Generations of students have been indoctrinated to believe that Mother Earth is being ravaged by its evil human population. In reality, Earth is going to be just fine. The real damage is being done by the kind of people who want to control other people. The answer to what should be done is: Nothing. The busybodies should mind their own business.
The Greens, however, love to get involved in big causes where they have lots of slogans and memes but very little scientific or technical knowledge. However, “getting involved” generates emotions which give meaning to their generally unproductive lives. Lacking traditional religion, they crave something bigger than themselves. It wasn’t so long ago that saving the whales was the cause du jour. Even though, with some minor exceptions, whales haven’t been hunted for over a century. Or saving the polar bears, even their population has been increasing for decades. I wonder what ever happened to the snail darter?
If it’s not one thing, it’s something else. It’s always something to get the population into a state of fear and hysteria. The elite who control society use them to keep the plebs in line.
International Man: With Trump returning to the presidency, what are the implications for things like carbon credits and carbon accounting?
Are they headed for the dustbin of history?
Doug Casey: Trump is a cultural conservative. He doesn’t want to see radical change. That’s fine since radical change is almost always dangerous. Only rarely does it improve the state of the world.
The problem with Trump is that he has no understanding of either economics or science. Not only that but even though he is a cultural conservative, he has no core philosophical beliefs. He runs on gut feelings. So it’s hard to predict what he’s going to do or how he’ll react to new developments.
But in general, we can expect him to de-emphasize the green agenda simply because he doesn’t like or trust green politicians and green warriors. Which is wise on his part.
So morning in America could last for at least part of his four-year term.
Carbon credits and carbon accounting are headed for the dustbin of history. They make no sense. They really are a scam.
Carbon, the basis of all life on the planet, is being treated like the deadliest element in the periodic table. Greens think CO? is more toxic than mustard gas or Zyklon-B. The war against CO? is idiotic. It’s plant food. Plants breathe it and can’t live without it. If you want more green plants, you need more CO?.
Plants can’t grow with less than 130 parts per million of CO?. And even now, it’s only about 400 or so. In the past, Earth had several times more CO2 in the atmosphere, and all forms of life prospered. Scientists are well aware of this fact but dare not discuss it for fear of losing their positions or funding. It’s as dangerous as denying the existence of witches during the hysterias of the Middle Ages. A form of science known as “The Science” has become almost as corrupt as politics.
The political hysterics have control of the information pipeline. It may take a while for this to turn around. You can’t fight reality forever, however. I’ll guess that in a decade or two, carbon credits and carbon accounting will be seen as an embarrassment, as ridiculous and counterproductive as the use of massive bloodletting to cure whatever ails you.
International Man: What are the most important investment implications of the collapse of the green energy scam?
What are your thoughts on hydrocarbons and nuclear energy investment opportunities?
Doug Casey: As windmills and solar technologies are refined further, they’ll be fine for special situations in isolated locations. But they will never make sense for mass power generation.
The bad news is that huge amounts of capital are being wasted and misallocated on them. They’re causing the standard of living to go down, wasting capital limits progress and the invention and production of viable technologies.
From a speculator’s point of view, the good news is that we should make a lot of money staying long hydrocarbons—oil, natural gas, and coal. And double long on uranium and nuclear power. Reality always wins out. They’re very cheap since the public is still caught up in Green hysterics and Woke pseudoscience.
Editor’s Note: The economic trajectory is troubling. Unfortunately, there’s little any individual can practically do to change the course of these trends in motion.
The best you can and should do is to stay informed so that you can protect yourself in the best way possible, and even profit from the situation.
That’s precisely why bestselling author Doug Casey and his colleagues just released an urgent new PDF report that explains what could come next and what you can do about it.
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