By Bob Hoye ——Bio and Archives--February 26, 2023
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As absurd as it is, political nihilists will push their destruction of the economy until, at last, repressed ordinary folk say: “Enough!”. That’s to in-your-face and in-your-wallet government. It would not be the first time and the last successful example took down the Berlin Wall in 1989, which was immediately followed by the collapse of formal Communist governments from East Germany to China. Deposed murderous leaders ranged from Erich Honecker to Pol Pot. One of the features of the “old” totalitarianism was that dictates were top down to households and individuals, all under Marxist theories.
The “new” authoritarianism seems to jump from subject to subject like a flock of birds wheeling in unison. There may be leaders, but they are all are flocking from theme to meme.
Also, the flock seems to focus on only one motivating concern at a time as each previous passion fades. Recently fretting about gas stoves jumped to the forefront, seemingly in an instant. Then because it was so ridiculous it has faded, maybe cancelled. On the longer term in the early 1970s the media were fearful of another Ice Age. For the last thirty plus years it has been the opposite with the “Earth Frying” mantra.
Whatever craze de jure, the threats can only be countered is by increasing taxes and regulations which metastasize through the economy. Resulting in the deliberate destruction of the family, the individual and the prosperity natural to freedom. With hardship always the consequence, why the nihilism?
After researching tyranny for decades, one answer is that there are many anxiety-ridden people out there. With far too many hoping that their personal relief can be obtained by forcing someone else to do something they would not otherwise do. “The World is going to fry!” therefore someone else must not drive cars, or if they must it has to be battery or hydrogen powered. But these are expensive and inefficient that even with state subsidies only relatively well-off people can afford them.
Ordinary folk are being forced to subsidize the elite classes and their whims taking advantage of anxieties.
While the almost terminally anxious literally glow about how virtuous such vehicles are, they ignore that that just making the batteries messes up the environment something awful. But this increasingly massive insult is not seen or reported by the MSM. The physics is even worse, batteries are low-density energy devices that require more energy to create than they deliver.
And that is negative-sum economics.
Perhaps terminal anxiety would, well, terminally reduce political and economic distress—to those who promote the distress as well as those who are made to suffer the other guy’s distress. Just consider two present fads. Saint Hydrogen will meet our prayers and prevail over the Lucifer of natural gas. In chemical terms—H is OK, but CH4 (natural gas) is not OK.
But if they shut down natural gas production, they will have no hydrogen. Ooops!
Through a couple of processes H is obtained from CH4. Saint Hydrogen needs Lucifer, which contradiction goes along with the purity of battery vehicles ruining the environment with mining extraordinary amounts very toxic compounds.
And then there is the environmental insult of huge wind turbines and solar arrays.
For whatever reasons big cities in eastern Canada and the States have become the foci for anxiety driven people. For those of us outside of this “stew” the old reason about why people live in such cities is that they like to see the air they breathe and suffer the summer’s humidity.
But the tailpipe product of H Cars is naturally water vapor, so if the anxious get such cars the result could eventually be hand wringing about too much humidity.
Today’s unrelenting authoritarian experiment has control as the main objective, but it is a hodge-podge of issues. Sometimes dreamed up by an individual. As mentioned, there is the curious example, all-of-a-sudden gas stoves became the “evil de jour”. And just as suddenly it wasn’t. Does this one mark a faltering from any whim being used to impose tyranny?
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Throughout all of life’s history on our uniquely hospitable planet climate warming has fostered life. Imagine what life was like when the Earth was covered with ice--including the tropics. “Snowball Earth” prevailed some 700 million years ago. Geologically, called the Cryogenian period.
Perversely, it has been politically expedient to promote nonsense. For the first time in history warming is “bad”. Not true.
Again, referring to geological history, life has thrived as atmospheric concentrations of CO2 increase. Indeed, at some 400ppm, the amount is very low and with less than 150 ppm, life will begin to shut down. Away back it was as high as 7,000 and life thrived.
That CO2 is “bad” is another “first”, that is also untrue.
Even the Lancet is going along with the paradoxes. On February 17 the medical journal published a headline calling for: “Cooler Cities Despite More Deaths From Cold Than Heat”. Indeed, in 2021 the journal had noted that the risk of people dying during cold weather is ten time greater than from warm.
Although convincing to far too many, such fretting is not valid – the “firsts” are not real, but anxiety driven. Personal issues that seem only to find relief by forcing someone else to do something they would not otherwise do.
Time to say “No!” to anxiety driven nihilism.
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Bob Hoye (BobHoye.com) has been researching investments for decades, which eventually included the history of financial and political markets. He considers now to be the most fascinating time for both since the Great Reformation of the 1600s. Bob casts a caustic eye on all promotions and, having a degree in geophysics, is severely critical of the audacity that a committee can “manage” not just the economy, but also the temperature of the nearest planet. He has had articles published in major financial journals and, as a speaker, has amused assemblies in a number of cities, from London to Zurich to Tokyo.