If energy, specifically oil and natural gas, were allowed to be produced and consumed in a free market environment in the global marketplace, economic growth would be much more stable. During the Trump Administration when American oil and gas producers were the dominant swing producers that effectively determined prices on the margin, the global oil market came the closest it ever has to generating somewhat competitive pricing outcomes. Prices were significantly lower both domestically and globally than have existed since the beginning of the Biden Administration. This radical change in the domestic and global energy market is directly attributable to the war on fossil fuel waged by the Biden-Harris Administration and the left wing hyperventilating green new deal environmentalists that has restricted American producers, claiming to avoid CO2 armageddon, and returned pricing power to the OPEC cartel.
If the green new deal had any validity, then an optimal path to net zero would have been presented as the path to net zero CO2emissions.The recognition that CO2 emissions should be minimized is a proper scientific objective function, but that is only half of the task of determining an optimal path to net zero emissions. Realistic constraints must also be carefully considered. Failing to do so has dumped the “green new deal” into the partial analysis pit of unintended consequences, some of which have been horrible. The political left presents the talking point that it follows the science. The fact that they sidestep proper scientific procedure and analysis indicates that the pace of their hysterical push to eliminate fossil fuels without realistically considering existing infrastructure, technological constraints and geopolitical risks is more political than scientific. See the “Where is the Science” section of “Where is the Logic? Where is the Science? Where is the Economics?” and “The American and European Left Never Learns” papers posted in www.georgeeconomics.com for additional discussion of this issue.
Not only did the war on fossil fuel ignite Biden’s and Harris’ record inflation and effectively facilitate the funding of Putin’s misadventures in Ukraine, these agenda driven energy policies that drove up global oil and gas prices has also enabled the funding of Iran’s proxy war with Israel. See the ‘Elections Have Consequences -OPEC is Back’ section of “OIL MARKET AND INFLATION–DOMESTIC AND GLOBAL–2022 Q4” posted in www.georgeeconomics.com for a more complete discussion of role Biden-Harris played in the funding of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. Harris Biden’s war on oil and gas, in coordination with the ESG warriors and far left green new deal environmentalists effectively allowed OPEC to extract monopoly level prices on the world oil and gas market. With the price of oil and gas becoming a political liability, the Biden-Harris Administration started selling oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and made the colossal geopolitical mistake of lifting sanctions (via non enforcement) designed to curb Venezuela’s and Iran’s ability to sell oil on the world market. Iran, now with hundreds of billions of dollars, has done what Iran always does when well-funded. They have funded their proxy’s (Hamas’ and Hezbollah) aggression toward Isreal, resulting in multifront war in the Middle East.
To make matters even worse, the Biden-Harris Administration has been trying to limit Israel’s successful engagement on multiple fronts by trying to limit Israel’s actions against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Iran (for launching a massive number of missiles and drones directly against Israel). The Biden Harris administration is correct to be concerned about the civilian casualties, but they are conveniently blind to the fact that their war on oil and gas funded Iran and the aggression by Hamas and Hezbollah that ignited the present Middle East war. The situation in Israel and Gaza has effectively been a powder keg since the creation of modern-day Israel. When a population is bottled up like the Palestinians in Gaza, explosive behavior should not come as a surprise. The solution will not be easily achieved and remember that the ethnic animosity and distrust that presently exists in the Middle East has existed for thousands of years and will not even be remotely mollified until Iran is defunded and a unified Palestine becomes a reality. The problem was beginning to be addressed during the Trump Administration with the ‘Abraham Accords”, with Iran in economic distress due to enforced sanctions. The Biden-Harris Administration has slowed down that progress.
Clearly, the single biggest impediment to Middle East peace has been the Biden Harris Administration’s misguided ‘green new deal’ war on oil and gas that put billions of dollars of funds in the hands of the Mullahs in Iran and Putin in Russia. The lesson that unfortunately must be constantly relearned is that when you put lots of money in the hands of bad people, bad things happen. If Biden-Harris self-destructive energy policies are renewed via the presidential election Tuesday, neither the conflict in Ukraine nor the Middle East is likely to be resolved in the near future.
At the present time, Israel’s well planned and exquisitely carried out elimination of Hezbollah and Hamas leadership in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, coupled with the anemic effect of the Iranian barrage of missiles directed at Israel, has Iran ‘back on its Heels”. Two actions on Israel’s part would insulate themselves from the threats posed by Iran for the foreseeable future. First would be to eliminate Iran’s source of funding. Second would be the degradation or destruction of Iran’s nuclear capability which would eliminate the threat of a catastrophic event. They have the technical and physical capability of taking out Iran’s energy infrastructure which would bring Iran’s source of funding to a screeching halt. They also have the capability to seriously degrade Iran’s nuclear capability. And, Iran does not have the ability to block either action by Israel. The Biden-Harris Administration has pressured Israel to take both of these options off the table, especially with the presidential election Tuesday. Israel chose to attack Iranian military and radar sites recently and has maintained a low profile regarding the impact of their actions. Given the proximity and tightness of the presidential election, I suspect that Israel is being cautious, gauging their geopolitical posture and waiting for the election results. A Trump victory and another action by Iran will ‘green light’ Israel to finish the job. The Middle East mess would have never occurred if Biden-Harris had maintained Trump’s energy policy and American producers still controlled the price of oil on the margin (resulting in more competitive pricing). Greater stability in Eastern Europe and the Middle East – Elections have consequences!