Climate Change? Nahhh ...

Pretty good story. Lots of scientists in it. That it came out before the conference is notable.

And then you had Friedman a couple days ago decrying "magical thinking" on energy.

Opinion | Putin Is Onto Us

If Biden wants America to be the arsenal of democracy to protect us and our democratic allies — and not leave us begging Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela or Iran to produce more oil and gas — we need a robust energy arsenal as much as a military one. Because we are in an energy war! Biden needs to make a major speech, making clear that for the foreseeable future, we need more of every kind of energy we have.

 

"We" don't produce a single bit of energy.

U.S. oil and gas companies do, and they want higher oil prices, not lower.

But I look forward to you and yours asking Joe Biden to nationalize the oil and gas industry so that "we" can have a robust energy arsenal.

 

Why is that? Because they're bad people?

 

Uhhh no. Because they're companies ... in the business to make money, not to make you feel better about the price of gas.

 

I mean, government price controls on oil and gas is a thought ...

 

It would be good to get politics out of the pricing of oil and gas.

 

How do we do that, when American oil and gas companies compete in the exact same space as state-owned foreign oil and gas companies?

 

I was being sarcastic, although why their having to compete in that space is a concern that requires an American political solution escapes me.

 

OPEC and their constituent states set policy which is in their best interest (and the best interest of their people).
American Oil and Gas companies set policy which is in their shareholder's best interest.

Without an American political solution, who sets Oil and Gas policy which is in the best interests of the American people?

 

Well, the American people -- quite a few of them oil and gas shareholders, I might add -- have any number of ways of furthering their interests without the first politician being involved. That politics have been involved doesn't mean that: 1) the American people's best interests have been furthered; or 2) that politics being involved was necessary.

 

We can all dispute how much or how little Government should regulate the O&G industry - we all disagree on how much or how little environmental policy is necessary.

How do we set that sliding scale without politics being involved?

 

I'm not going there with regards to regulation in general. I was only being sarcastic -- and then serious -- with regards to pricing.