Thursday, September 22, 2022

Energy, Crime, Economics

 Back in the 80s, I was raising a family on a small hobby farm.  We would be sustainable. I had a wood lot for fuel, a pasture for livestock and a garden for produce.  It was a great idea, and we managed to do just fine.  Cutting wood for winter was a great source of exercise.  Dragging logs out is good for the legs.  Swinging a splitting maul is good upper body exercise.  Stacking split firewood is good cardio.  In short, it is hard work.

Decades later, the kids are raised, I'm becoming an old man, and central heat is a blessing.  I adjust my comfort not by a log on the hearth, but by a switch on the wall.  I am past my firewood cutting days.

Germany is back to cutting firewood.  The national energy policy is not to develop their own resources but to buy it from Russia.  Now, in the midst of the Ukraine crisis, Russia has turned off the gas and the Germans have to get ready for winter.  Many European countries in one degree or another are faced with the same conundrum.

Here in the US, we are facing the same conundrum, if to a lesser degree.  Energy is more expensive thab it was two years ago.  Whether it's the gas in your car or the gas that heats your home, or the electricity that powers your computer, it costs more.  Couple this with rising crime in every major city, unrestrained immigration, and what economists call uncertainty and we are seeing another migration, unrelated to the southern border.  

Joh Galt is shrugging.  There is a migration occurring.  Things are changing, and it's all on the Democrats.  They can't blame it on Republicans or Trump.  They instituted green energy policies, unrestricted immigration policies, and soft-on-crime policies. People are noticing, and they are moving.

3 comments:

Javahead said...

I’m pretty sure burning wood for heat releases at least as much carbon as coal or natural gas, and a LOT less than their deliberately shuttered nuclear plants.

Of course, I live in California, which is debating eliminating natural gas and IC cars, while being unable to keep the electrical grid supplied at peak demand now. I’d call our state politicos venal half wits but that’s far too kind.

Old NFO said...

That they are, mostly to red states. As long as they don't bring their 'politics' with them, I'm okay with it. You bring politics, keep on going!!!

Anonymous said...

Well, I’m almost 73 and I’m still splitting and stacking wood here in Alaska. I do have a tractor to move it and a powered splitter to split it. We do buy log length cord wood for part of our needs but I’m glad we have 11 full cords of dry firewood in the wood shed with the prices on fuel oil and propane what they are. We do live off grid and a grown daughter does heavy stuff like hauling water!