Turbo capitalism is driven by cheap fossil fuel energy. The rise of global capitalism coincided neatly with the discovery of fossil fuels: coal, then oil and finally natural gas. Each is so convenient and energy-dense that this once-only planetary bonus is worth about the equivalent of 50 slaves for any westerner. The entire industrial and civilisational base of the the global economy rests on the ease of extraction and massive energy surplus of fossil fuels.
“Because if you look at rising productivity from any country, European or American, the rise in productivity and energy use per worker is hand in hand. So, energy is what governs the productivity and hence the cost structure. And by turning away from the low cost energy to high cost American energy, America is depriving itself of what was the whole essence of European trade policy throughout the 19th century and most of the 20th century. The idea is you minimize your cost of raw materials imports in order to concentrate on finishing the goods, working the raw materials into finished manufactures. “ Michael Hudson, author and academic.
The cost is the deadly effect on the climate – the last few years since 2020 have been the hottest for a hundred thousand years. The stable climate that allowed humanity to develop, then migrate to populate everywhere, including places as far away and hostile as the Arctic and Australia, is gone.
So it is staggering that the imbeciles of the Epstein class who run the West, have chosen to destroy the cheap energy imports from Russia and West Asia. As living costs spiral upwards for the majority of people, while jobs are consumed by AI, something has to give. Climate change is already wreaking havoc on the insurance and transport industries, to give a couple of examples.
Riots are bursting out in France, Belgium, Spain and Albania for many reasons, but the brutal cost of living has to be part of it. In the UK the far right have deflected the problems onto a minority of brown migrants. Classic fascism – blaming the weak, while the oligarchy avoids the spotlight.
This is looking like it is going to be a hard winter for most people. Whether the kleptocrats who run the UK’s rotten democracy will take any notice is hard to tell.
Sun Tsu might have said, “If you haven’t got resources, you deindustrialised, and your enemies have the resources and build all your products from TVs to turbines you shouldn’t make war on them as it will all end badly.”
Top image: Julian Jackson