War is job security for The Blob. If you want control and power, you need excuses for the inexcusable. War provides this and more. If there were no war at the moment, the US would start one because they need war to justify the obscene spending they are foisting on us taxpayers. The history of the US over the last 50 years has been perpetual war, and in each case the US started it and perpetuated it. Always far from US borders and out of sight and mind for the public. The public has some blame in this as much of it has swallowed "American Exceptionalism" nonsense hook, line and sinker. Until the public gains a modicum of humanity about the rest of the world, The Blob will be free to run havoc and let loose the dogs of war wherever it wants.
the culprit at the very core of the entire malaise is our addiction to capitalism, which demands constant growth, constant input of material resources, and constant exploitation of labor. we cannot go in and correct this problem through piecemeal fixes, as the systemic rot will always compromise whatever good will efforts at repair are made. those who profit off of the continual decline must be removed from power and replaced with others focused on building a new reality which favors cooperation over competition and fair distribution over personal accumulation.
Sorry, miggety [and anybody who agrees with You]: But America and Americans are not "addicted to capitalism."
It and they are first of all addicted to Statism: the belief that The State ~ ie, Government ~ is the solution to all of Humankind’s problems. Provided of course, that the right people with the right ideology are in charge of controlling that government and the people who run it.
It and they are also addicted to Crony Corporatism that ~ over the past 100+ years ~ has become increasingly and overtly Fascist. And it has been that way for a long, long time; starting with Wilson’s Income Tax and Federal Reserve, Roosevelt’ s New Deal, Reagan’s “Morning in America,” the “Too Big To Fail” rescues and bailouts of the 2008 financial “¢risi$,” and what happened and is happening in the wake of The COVID Event of 2020.
"Capitalism" ~ as a political economic system ~ has never existed in this nation or on this Planet. Capitalism in its purest form involves absolute minimal ~ if not ZERO ~ involvement by the government in any aspect of the management and operation of a nation's economy.
What America had at its founding was an economic system modeled after and built upon the principles and practices of European Mercantilism [with Slavery thrown in for good measure], with very intimate interaction and interrelations between the government and the economy.
The real culprit is our addiction to government being in the business of meeting Human Needs and satisfying Human Wants, as opposed to its proper function of protecting Human Rights and facilitating the fulfillment of Human Responsibilities.
And the reason this is the culprit is that the only way governments can meet the Needs and satisfy the Wants of some of its citizen-constituents is by violating the Rights and eliminating the Responsibilities of other of its citizen-constituents.
A system of government that requires that violation of the Rights and the elimination of Responsibility of some of its citizen-constituents in order to meet the Needs and satisfy the Wants of other of its citizen-constituents is not “capitalism,” but ~ to a greater or lesser degree ~ Tyranny.
Which is exactly what we have in America today: The Tyranny of Vested Special Interests vying and bidding for access to that government’s legal power, administrative authority, and ~ above all else ~ its spending capability to advance the interests and agendas of those Vested Special Interests.
And the only way to achieve Your desired “fair distribution over personal accumulation” involves yet another form of Tyranny: The tyranny of those who get to determine and decide exactly what “fair” is, and “fair” to exactly who and how.
I believe they’ve tried capitalism to much greater detriment and an even higher death count, so according to your line of reasoning, that’s a no-go for your favorite economic model.
I've occasionally thought if I was a teacher and the question of capitalism vs socialism came up I would ask which students would prefer socialism. Then I would collect the cell phones of those students and put them in a box, then promise that they would be distributed to people who needed them more. Then I would find out which students REALLY prefer socialism.
which really only goes to demonstrate your lack of understanding of the term as well as what I can only assume to be a basic dearth of curiosity on your part.
You can see the collapse coming, I just can not see how it will happen, a financial collapse, a wartime loss to China over Taiwan that hopefully does not go nuclear, a overdue rejection by European powers and isolation from the rest of the world, a climate catastrophe. Maybe and hopefully and internal revolution by Generation Z. I guess my next thought is to ask you Bill, any speculation?
Like i said earlier upon reading Your latest at TomDispatch.com earlier today, Bill: Excellent piece. Nailed it again.
i'm beginning to wonder if You are beginning to wonder ~ like me ~ if the United States will survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026; a mere 1,124 days from today.
I think it'll survive -- but it won't thrive. Too much money being wasted on weapons and war. Too much energy being devoted to culture wars with little meaning. Too much kleptocracy.
Hmmm. i can’t help but wonder, Bill, what percentage of Americans think they are “thriving” now; or have been thriving since The COVID Event? Or since Biden was elected President? Or since Trump was elected? Or since the financial "¢risi$" of 2008? Or even 9/11?
In any event and by way of perspective: Today is 1,123 days before July 4, 2026. To anybody who thinks that the US could never collapse and disintegrate like the Soviet Union in such a relatively short period of time, consider the following inconvenient facts ~ as Bozo used to put it ~ of history:
~ December 26. 1991 was the day the USSR officially disintegrated and the European variety of Communism had disappeared.
~ 1,123 days before December 26, 1991 was November 28, 1988: the USSR was still in Afghanistan, the Warsaw Bloc was alive and well, and the Berlin Wall still stood.
~ A year later, the Russians had left Afghanistan, the so-called “Color Revolutions” had happened in Eastern Europe, disappearing the Warsaw Bloc, and the Berlin Wall was gone.
~ And then, two years after that, on the day after Christmas in 1991, the USSR officially existed no more.
So at this point in time, is there any reason to believe that the same thing could not happen to the United States in such a “short period of time”?
Thoughtful piece, as per usual. What does it take? A rejection of the state itself, or at the very least reducing state power to a bare minimum. People of faith have sadly been all too missing in this effort, on both the right and the left. They have in idolatrous fashion lifted the state to the level of a god, and offer worship and obeisance to it. This presents a clear 1st. commandment violation, as well as a 5th, and 7-10th violations. Oh, and being completely at odds with the Gospel, as the post pointed out. If the people of God cannot lead the way, then we are most to be pitied.
WJA, as a historian can you think of any great power that kept itself restrained and was not limited rather by competing power? China withdrew from world exploration at one point and Japan being an island nation kept to itself but broke out eventually. Hubris is natural to our species and grows until it is humbled. Hitler was taken down and took a good part of the world with him in the devastation he eagerly brought with an enthusiastic Germany. Physically isolated, the US was in a position to revive things. There is no such isolated potential savior now.
Here we are today, boldly denouncing Russia, throwing everything we can into Ukraine without hesitation and meanwhile posturing over Taiwan with Biden saying we will defend it militarily. If world war breaks out, which could so easily happen at any time, the devastation due to Hitler will be small by comparison.
I admire and support your continuing effort to call attention to the insanity of great power as modeled by the United States, but I don't think the history of civilization (rising up and being destroyed) offers hope that the US will be one to restrain itself.
PS: Did you see Lindsay Graham calling for more military spending? And there's Tom Cotton in the House. At least Cornel West is giving it a go and I'm behind him all the way, ready for the chorus of "he can't win" to begin. If mine is his only vote, he's got it. I tried the Liberty Party website and wasn't surprised to find it overwhelmed and unusable.
More likely, I think, that we will be done to death by stifling bureaucracies, operating outside of our previous Constitutional norms. The global pandemic was a good example of that, with people (especially children) forced to don masks throughout the day, in spite of the fact that there was no evidence that they did anything effective. Governors in the blue states, especially, joyously enacted rules meant to remove from the public square people who dared to follow the (lack of) data and who chose to breathe freely. Gotta stomp on those free thinkers I guess. Meanwhile our super bureaucracy is ramming electric vehicles down our throats, in spite of data showing that they put as much of a drain on earth's resources as internal combustion engines. Oh well. How to cope. Soviet citizens did so with lots of vodka.
Alex, How is it that "our super bureaucracy is ramming electric vehicles down our throats?"
Nobody is forcing you to buy one! Not even in liberal California eh?
And BTW, I think the school is still out on data showing that they (EV's) put as much of a drain on earth's resources as internal combustion engines. I read both sides of the debate. And you can't argue that we sooner or later we will run out of fossil fuel. That's the real problem!
I'm in favour of getting a jump on that before we all go down to the gas station one day and there is no more gas. What the US desperately needs is a plan for how they are going to deal with this before it's too late. Agree?
The Biden administrations is drastically raising the MPG requirements for the auto makers. People who want to buy ICE cars will be taxed more, whereas people who buy EVs will receive rebates. I suppose it would be possible to construct a set such that there is a 100% tax on ICE vehicles whereas EVs would be completely paid for by taxpayers as a whole (just add your name to the list and they'll get to you).
I'm not worried about running out of fossil fuels. The technology will adapt as we get to that point. Whereas politicians who push EVs would like the transition to occur while they're in office, so they can get the "credit".
Then of course there are things like gas taxes (not applied to EVs). EVs get to ride our roads for free, whereas I pay gas taxes to keep them up. In Norway, EVs are charged lower taxes for tolls and for public parking. There is a sales tax exemption for EVs. There is a CO2 tax which applies to ICE vehicles but not EVs. Norwegian politicians want the country to be all EVs within a few years.
Politicians can produce any result they want with taxes. Just tax the hell out of what they want to get rid of and keep free of taxes what they want you to "choose".
And the bigger problem than ultimately "running out of fossil fuels" is what the use of those fossil fuels is doing to the Planet and its air, fresh and salt water, land, climate, and weather patterns, the Biosphere, and all of Life that it contains, nurtures, and supports.
Dennis: The far bigger problem than ultimately "running out of fossil fuels" is what the use of those fossil fuels has done and is doing to the Planet and its air, fresh and salt water, land, climate and weather patterns, the Biosphere, and all of Life that it contains, nurtures, and supports.
Imagine what the World would look like to today without using fossil fuels Jeff. Would we have the things that have made our life's what they are today? Our life expectancy before fossil fuel usage was what - 30-years? Now its 80+ years. Look at the misery the Europeans are going through right now since the Americans blew up the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline. Fossil fuels are surely essential for our well-being. If we deplete it driving our ICE cars to ball games as esteemed fellow poster Alex seems to want - where will be?
Why not start to use renewable energy, and save what little fossil fuel we have left for uses where it is irreplaceable - and do less damage to the planet.
Dennis: Do You agree that our use of fossil fuels is causing problems for the Planet and all of Life?
Or do You subscribe to the ideas that so-called "Global Warming" and "Climate Change" are myths perpetrated by those seeking complete and total social, economic, and political control of everything and everybody on the Planet?
As it stands right now, the makers and sellers of fossil fuels already have that virtually total social, economic, and political control; and those with eyes, ears, and a brain can see what a lovely world they have created by that control. Just the most obvious example of that is the fact that that's what 9/11 and America's "Forever War" was and is ~ and ever will be ~ all about.
And do You have any Facts to counter or contradict the Facts that Alex cited other than that life with fossil fuels has been and is a lot easier and more convenient for everybody than it would have been or is without them?
For example, what percentage of the energy used to charge EVs anyplace on the Planet today comes from the burning of fossil fuels vs how much is coming from renewable sources? Does Your friend Google offer any insight on that?
The issue isn't where we would be without fossil fuels, but where this Planet is and is heading with them.
And given that most charging of EVs is done via the energy created by the burning of fossil fuels, has there been any documented reduction in our consumption of fossil fuels, our production of greenhouse gasses, or our carbon footprint by anybody since the age of the EV has dawned?
i agree that a switch from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is necessary. i'm just not sure that EV's that are charged by the burning of fossil fuels is an actual switch at all.
Not going to waste my time Jeff. Not going to take the bait my friend.
New Zealand is well on its way to reaching its goal of 90% renewable electricity generation by 2025. Some experts even predict that it could be possible to get near zero net carbon emissions for electricity generation. New Zealand’s renewable energy efforts have set the standard for countries across the globe. In 2016, New Zealand’s renewable energy generation was already at 90% and in one week it peaked to 93%! New Zealand’s main sources of renewable energy generation come from hydroelectricity, geothermal and wind.
In September 2021, New Zealand's electric vehicle registrations reached 12.5% of new car sales. The New Zealand Government has a target for 50% of all light vehicle registrations by 2029 to be electric vehicles, and 100% by 2035. The New Zealand Government will ban the sale and importation of petrol and diesel vehicles between 2035 and 2040.
In 2022, there was a record 15,670 new pure electric vehicles registered in New Zealand. That figure means that over 13% of all new passenger vehicles on our roads were fully electric. Expand that figure to include both hybrids and plug-in hybrids, and nearly 35% of all new passenger vehicles sold were electrified. Notably, the Tesla Model Y finished the year as the third most popular new vehicle (4,226), despite only arriving in August.
This 75-year-old lives in a World where we do not have to address all the nonsense in your post. We don't have a question about where we are heading energy wise. We have already answered the question.
War is job security for The Blob. If you want control and power, you need excuses for the inexcusable. War provides this and more. If there were no war at the moment, the US would start one because they need war to justify the obscene spending they are foisting on us taxpayers. The history of the US over the last 50 years has been perpetual war, and in each case the US started it and perpetuated it. Always far from US borders and out of sight and mind for the public. The public has some blame in this as much of it has swallowed "American Exceptionalism" nonsense hook, line and sinker. Until the public gains a modicum of humanity about the rest of the world, The Blob will be free to run havoc and let loose the dogs of war wherever it wants.
the culprit at the very core of the entire malaise is our addiction to capitalism, which demands constant growth, constant input of material resources, and constant exploitation of labor. we cannot go in and correct this problem through piecemeal fixes, as the systemic rot will always compromise whatever good will efforts at repair are made. those who profit off of the continual decline must be removed from power and replaced with others focused on building a new reality which favors cooperation over competition and fair distribution over personal accumulation.
Sorry, miggety [and anybody who agrees with You]: But America and Americans are not "addicted to capitalism."
It and they are first of all addicted to Statism: the belief that The State ~ ie, Government ~ is the solution to all of Humankind’s problems. Provided of course, that the right people with the right ideology are in charge of controlling that government and the people who run it.
It and they are also addicted to Crony Corporatism that ~ over the past 100+ years ~ has become increasingly and overtly Fascist. And it has been that way for a long, long time; starting with Wilson’s Income Tax and Federal Reserve, Roosevelt’ s New Deal, Reagan’s “Morning in America,” the “Too Big To Fail” rescues and bailouts of the 2008 financial “¢risi$,” and what happened and is happening in the wake of The COVID Event of 2020.
"Capitalism" ~ as a political economic system ~ has never existed in this nation or on this Planet. Capitalism in its purest form involves absolute minimal ~ if not ZERO ~ involvement by the government in any aspect of the management and operation of a nation's economy.
What America had at its founding was an economic system modeled after and built upon the principles and practices of European Mercantilism [with Slavery thrown in for good measure], with very intimate interaction and interrelations between the government and the economy.
The real culprit is our addiction to government being in the business of meeting Human Needs and satisfying Human Wants, as opposed to its proper function of protecting Human Rights and facilitating the fulfillment of Human Responsibilities.
And the reason this is the culprit is that the only way governments can meet the Needs and satisfy the Wants of some of its citizen-constituents is by violating the Rights and eliminating the Responsibilities of other of its citizen-constituents.
A system of government that requires that violation of the Rights and the elimination of Responsibility of some of its citizen-constituents in order to meet the Needs and satisfy the Wants of other of its citizen-constituents is not “capitalism,” but ~ to a greater or lesser degree ~ Tyranny.
Which is exactly what we have in America today: The Tyranny of Vested Special Interests vying and bidding for access to that government’s legal power, administrative authority, and ~ above all else ~ its spending capability to advance the interests and agendas of those Vested Special Interests.
And the only way to achieve Your desired “fair distribution over personal accumulation” involves yet another form of Tyranny: The tyranny of those who get to determine and decide exactly what “fair” is, and “fair” to exactly who and how.
That sounds very Marxist. I believe they've tried that, with not much success. 100 million dead, at last count.
I believe they’ve tried capitalism to much greater detriment and an even higher death count, so according to your line of reasoning, that’s a no-go for your favorite economic model.
I've occasionally thought if I was a teacher and the question of capitalism vs socialism came up I would ask which students would prefer socialism. Then I would collect the cell phones of those students and put them in a box, then promise that they would be distributed to people who needed them more. Then I would find out which students REALLY prefer socialism.
which really only goes to demonstrate your lack of understanding of the term as well as what I can only assume to be a basic dearth of curiosity on your part.
Wow. Becoming personally insulting already?
You can see the collapse coming, I just can not see how it will happen, a financial collapse, a wartime loss to China over Taiwan that hopefully does not go nuclear, a overdue rejection by European powers and isolation from the rest of the world, a climate catastrophe. Maybe and hopefully and internal revolution by Generation Z. I guess my next thought is to ask you Bill, any speculation?
My historical crystal ball is cloudy at the moment. :-)
Like i said earlier upon reading Your latest at TomDispatch.com earlier today, Bill: Excellent piece. Nailed it again.
i'm beginning to wonder if You are beginning to wonder ~ like me ~ if the United States will survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026; a mere 1,124 days from today.
Or if it can survive. Or if it should survive.
I think it'll survive -- but it won't thrive. Too much money being wasted on weapons and war. Too much energy being devoted to culture wars with little meaning. Too much kleptocracy.
Hmmm. i can’t help but wonder, Bill, what percentage of Americans think they are “thriving” now; or have been thriving since The COVID Event? Or since Biden was elected President? Or since Trump was elected? Or since the financial "¢risi$" of 2008? Or even 9/11?
In any event and by way of perspective: Today is 1,123 days before July 4, 2026. To anybody who thinks that the US could never collapse and disintegrate like the Soviet Union in such a relatively short period of time, consider the following inconvenient facts ~ as Bozo used to put it ~ of history:
~ December 26. 1991 was the day the USSR officially disintegrated and the European variety of Communism had disappeared.
~ 1,123 days before December 26, 1991 was November 28, 1988: the USSR was still in Afghanistan, the Warsaw Bloc was alive and well, and the Berlin Wall still stood.
~ A year later, the Russians had left Afghanistan, the so-called “Color Revolutions” had happened in Eastern Europe, disappearing the Warsaw Bloc, and the Berlin Wall was gone.
~ And then, two years after that, on the day after Christmas in 1991, the USSR officially existed no more.
So at this point in time, is there any reason to believe that the same thing could not happen to the United States in such a “short period of time”?
Thoughtful piece, as per usual. What does it take? A rejection of the state itself, or at the very least reducing state power to a bare minimum. People of faith have sadly been all too missing in this effort, on both the right and the left. They have in idolatrous fashion lifted the state to the level of a god, and offer worship and obeisance to it. This presents a clear 1st. commandment violation, as well as a 5th, and 7-10th violations. Oh, and being completely at odds with the Gospel, as the post pointed out. If the people of God cannot lead the way, then we are most to be pitied.
Thank you.
WJA, as a historian can you think of any great power that kept itself restrained and was not limited rather by competing power? China withdrew from world exploration at one point and Japan being an island nation kept to itself but broke out eventually. Hubris is natural to our species and grows until it is humbled. Hitler was taken down and took a good part of the world with him in the devastation he eagerly brought with an enthusiastic Germany. Physically isolated, the US was in a position to revive things. There is no such isolated potential savior now.
Here we are today, boldly denouncing Russia, throwing everything we can into Ukraine without hesitation and meanwhile posturing over Taiwan with Biden saying we will defend it militarily. If world war breaks out, which could so easily happen at any time, the devastation due to Hitler will be small by comparison.
I admire and support your continuing effort to call attention to the insanity of great power as modeled by the United States, but I don't think the history of civilization (rising up and being destroyed) offers hope that the US will be one to restrain itself.
PS: Did you see Lindsay Graham calling for more military spending? And there's Tom Cotton in the House. At least Cornel West is giving it a go and I'm behind him all the way, ready for the chorus of "he can't win" to begin. If mine is his only vote, he's got it. I tried the Liberty Party website and wasn't surprised to find it overwhelmed and unusable.
Graham -- what a tool. An Air Force lawyer who's trying to prove he's a tough goy. Truly pathetic.
Bill,
One of you best.
Great read.
Thank you
Thanks, Dennis.
More likely, I think, that we will be done to death by stifling bureaucracies, operating outside of our previous Constitutional norms. The global pandemic was a good example of that, with people (especially children) forced to don masks throughout the day, in spite of the fact that there was no evidence that they did anything effective. Governors in the blue states, especially, joyously enacted rules meant to remove from the public square people who dared to follow the (lack of) data and who chose to breathe freely. Gotta stomp on those free thinkers I guess. Meanwhile our super bureaucracy is ramming electric vehicles down our throats, in spite of data showing that they put as much of a drain on earth's resources as internal combustion engines. Oh well. How to cope. Soviet citizens did so with lots of vodka.
Free breathers? Can't have that, Alex.
Free drinkers? As long as it's not Russian vodka. :-)
Alex, How is it that "our super bureaucracy is ramming electric vehicles down our throats?"
Nobody is forcing you to buy one! Not even in liberal California eh?
And BTW, I think the school is still out on data showing that they (EV's) put as much of a drain on earth's resources as internal combustion engines. I read both sides of the debate. And you can't argue that we sooner or later we will run out of fossil fuel. That's the real problem!
I'm in favour of getting a jump on that before we all go down to the gas station one day and there is no more gas. What the US desperately needs is a plan for how they are going to deal with this before it's too late. Agree?
The Biden administrations is drastically raising the MPG requirements for the auto makers. People who want to buy ICE cars will be taxed more, whereas people who buy EVs will receive rebates. I suppose it would be possible to construct a set such that there is a 100% tax on ICE vehicles whereas EVs would be completely paid for by taxpayers as a whole (just add your name to the list and they'll get to you).
I'm not worried about running out of fossil fuels. The technology will adapt as we get to that point. Whereas politicians who push EVs would like the transition to occur while they're in office, so they can get the "credit".
Then of course there are things like gas taxes (not applied to EVs). EVs get to ride our roads for free, whereas I pay gas taxes to keep them up. In Norway, EVs are charged lower taxes for tolls and for public parking. There is a sales tax exemption for EVs. There is a CO2 tax which applies to ICE vehicles but not EVs. Norwegian politicians want the country to be all EVs within a few years.
Politicians can produce any result they want with taxes. Just tax the hell out of what they want to get rid of and keep free of taxes what they want you to "choose".
Very well said, Alex.
And the bigger problem than ultimately "running out of fossil fuels" is what the use of those fossil fuels is doing to the Planet and its air, fresh and salt water, land, climate, and weather patterns, the Biosphere, and all of Life that it contains, nurtures, and supports.
Dennis: The far bigger problem than ultimately "running out of fossil fuels" is what the use of those fossil fuels has done and is doing to the Planet and its air, fresh and salt water, land, climate and weather patterns, the Biosphere, and all of Life that it contains, nurtures, and supports.
Imagine what the World would look like to today without using fossil fuels Jeff. Would we have the things that have made our life's what they are today? Our life expectancy before fossil fuel usage was what - 30-years? Now its 80+ years. Look at the misery the Europeans are going through right now since the Americans blew up the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline. Fossil fuels are surely essential for our well-being. If we deplete it driving our ICE cars to ball games as esteemed fellow poster Alex seems to want - where will be?
Why not start to use renewable energy, and save what little fossil fuel we have left for uses where it is irreplaceable - and do less damage to the planet.
Dennis: Do You agree that our use of fossil fuels is causing problems for the Planet and all of Life?
Or do You subscribe to the ideas that so-called "Global Warming" and "Climate Change" are myths perpetrated by those seeking complete and total social, economic, and political control of everything and everybody on the Planet?
As it stands right now, the makers and sellers of fossil fuels already have that virtually total social, economic, and political control; and those with eyes, ears, and a brain can see what a lovely world they have created by that control. Just the most obvious example of that is the fact that that's what 9/11 and America's "Forever War" was and is ~ and ever will be ~ all about.
And do You have any Facts to counter or contradict the Facts that Alex cited other than that life with fossil fuels has been and is a lot easier and more convenient for everybody than it would have been or is without them?
For example, what percentage of the energy used to charge EVs anyplace on the Planet today comes from the burning of fossil fuels vs how much is coming from renewable sources? Does Your friend Google offer any insight on that?
The issue isn't where we would be without fossil fuels, but where this Planet is and is heading with them.
And given that most charging of EVs is done via the energy created by the burning of fossil fuels, has there been any documented reduction in our consumption of fossil fuels, our production of greenhouse gasses, or our carbon footprint by anybody since the age of the EV has dawned?
i agree that a switch from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is necessary. i'm just not sure that EV's that are charged by the burning of fossil fuels is an actual switch at all.
Not going to waste my time Jeff. Not going to take the bait my friend.
New Zealand is well on its way to reaching its goal of 90% renewable electricity generation by 2025. Some experts even predict that it could be possible to get near zero net carbon emissions for electricity generation. New Zealand’s renewable energy efforts have set the standard for countries across the globe. In 2016, New Zealand’s renewable energy generation was already at 90% and in one week it peaked to 93%! New Zealand’s main sources of renewable energy generation come from hydroelectricity, geothermal and wind.
https://www.glimp.co.nz/new-zealand-leading-the-way-in-renewable-energy
In September 2021, New Zealand's electric vehicle registrations reached 12.5% of new car sales. The New Zealand Government has a target for 50% of all light vehicle registrations by 2029 to be electric vehicles, and 100% by 2035. The New Zealand Government will ban the sale and importation of petrol and diesel vehicles between 2035 and 2040.
In 2022, there was a record 15,670 new pure electric vehicles registered in New Zealand. That figure means that over 13% of all new passenger vehicles on our roads were fully electric. Expand that figure to include both hybrids and plug-in hybrids, and nearly 35% of all new passenger vehicles sold were electrified. Notably, the Tesla Model Y finished the year as the third most popular new vehicle (4,226), despite only arriving in August.
This 75-year-old lives in a World where we do not have to address all the nonsense in your post. We don't have a question about where we are heading energy wise. We have already answered the question.
Take care
Heh. Well Dennis, that just about settles THAT, doesn't it?
Sorry i wasted Your time by asking all those inconvenient questions.
And i'm even sorrier that i wasted my time in thinking that i would get any legitimate answers to them. Have a Great day.