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ENERGY WATCH - Krazy, John Kerry, the senior Biden climate advisor, is running around the world telling people to stop using coal. Asia may not be laughing in his face, but they certainly are behind his back. China and India seek to provide cheap, reliable electricity to their populations. The leaders of the free world want to throw us back into third-world status and energy poverty. In outlawing coal and natural gas, they are destroying their sacred cow industry, the “no-emissions” - extremely polluting electric vehicle industry. Energy experts from all over the country are saying that if you take away coal, oil, and natural gas, where will we get our power from? To that end, the Biden administration announced they will not allow the building of any coal power plants in the United States, and they will start to shut down every coal plant in the United States. Decommissioning coal-fired electrical generating plants is a big problem because we get 30% of our electricity from coal. The Biden administration, with their 80-year-old geriatric brain trust, "what me worry," have no stake in the future, also announced new draconian rules on methane emissions, which is just a fancy way of saying natural gas. If you take away coal and natural gas, how do we charge those Teslas? How do we run our iPhones and electric stoves?
Whether this is some sinister plot emanating out of Russia and China to impoverish and cripple the United States, I can't say. But the results will speak for themselves via a crippled country with more hunger, poverty, and a shortened lifespan. Uncle Joe and krazy Kerry aren't telling you that all these "miraculous" clean energy devices are manufactured by factories that rely on coal. We, the brainwashed American public, fail to realize that coal is inexpensive, abundant, and reliable. Cheap energy is directly linked to human prosperity, and since oil was discovered in Pennsylvania and how we harness those remarkable molecules of hydrocarbons, the world has seen the most significant increase in prosperity ever in the last 130 years. It is incomprehensibly stupid that The United States and Europe want to beat down their populations with a lack of affordable energy and self-imposed scarcity. Meanwhile, China and India are building over 1000 new coal-fired power plants.
It would be much better if we stopped worrying about saving the planet, which will be here long after we are gone, and started worrying about saving ourselves. Everything we touch and wear needs hydrocarbons, either in the form of energy to make the materials we use or to make the vital plastics that go into virtually every product one way or another. The climate narrative is slowly crumbling as a host of eminent a scientist are throwing a cold, wet blanket on the specious assumption that a trace gas is causing all our woes. And even if it was causing big climate problems, as long as China and India are driving forward with the promotion of coal, a cheap, economical fuel, our puny efforts to destroy our lifestyle will not change the climate balance one iota. India and China have dramatically increased their use of hydrocarbons. India has increased its fuel consumption by 700%, and its life expectancy has increased by 17 years. China has increased its fuel consumption by over 600%, and its life expectancy has increased by 14 years. These statistics suggest that all the talk of climate boiling and run-away CO2 is merely a climate alarmist narrative.
Wall Street (smart money) has decided there is no return on investment and has started to pull investments from the climate scammers' marketing schemes and investment funds. According to Morningstar, the financial services firm Sustainable Funds has lost $14 billion this year. Six more mutual funds announced that they will drop their environmental, social, and government mandates this year, and another 32 will close. Christian Walker, a Fox News reporter, writes, "The giant push towards a net zero utopia is not practical and has been a complete disservice to the American consumer. The green movement is experiencing major setbacks, namely in offshore wind and electric vehicles." Offshore wind projects can no longer get funding. It is telling that CNBC has quietly eliminated its climate desk and the company's entire Time Team for clients covering climate doom and disaster. When the CNBC financial reporters can't keep the climate hysteria going, you can be sure the narrative and the investments will fail. Despite abundant government subsidies, Ford lost $36,000 for every electric vehicle it sold in the third quarter of 2023. Ray Dalio, the CEO and founder of Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund, says it's time to put profits back in focus as green finance falters.
It is high time we stopped ignoring the benefits of burning Hydrocarbons. Oil and natural gas give us climate mastery. They power our air conditioning; they power our heating, and they allow us to use irrigation, and build dams and dykes, to mitigate adverse climate effects. Natural gas is the primary feedstock for creating synthetic fertilizers, which help feed the billions of people on this planet. Without fertilizers made from natural gas, crop yields would plummet, and billions would starve. Hydrocarbons power our electric plants; without them, we are at the mercy of a climate that is less than ideal. There is no place on this planet where you can survive without shelter, fire, or clothing. It is a fact that far more people die of the cold than they do of the heat.
Our whole ecosystem is based on plants. CO2 is plant fertilizer, and if we eliminate enough CO2 from the atmosphere, the plants die, and we die. Plants thrive in warmer climates (jungles). Satellite surveys have shown the slight increase in CO2 has promoted reforestation in many parts of the world.
Countries that seek to thrive in the 21st century are building the energy infrastructure to provide their people with cheap and reliable electricity. It's “game over” for the “climate fraud,” so says Professor Ian Plimer professor emeritus at the University of Melbourne. "No one has ever shown that human emissions of carbon dioxide drive global warming… And if it could be shown, then you would have to show that the 97% of natural emissions do not drive global warming." The green agenda is a death cult disguised as a panacea.
(Eliot Cohen is a 35-year veteran of Wall Street serving as a financial advisor and portfolio manager. He is also president of an HOA and serves on local advisory boards.)
