In continental Europe and the United Kingdom, a hyperinflationary rise in energy prices over the course of 2021, and resulting bankruptcies and shutdowns of critical industrial production, has now unleashed a chain reaction of breakdowns of the physical economy of strategic proportions – not unlike what happened with the orchestrated 1973 oil price shock, which permanently reorganized the world economy under the financial dictatorship of the City of London’s speculative eurodollar.
Europeans are now staring with growing alarm at the prospect of a cold, hungry winter. Goldman Sachs warned in a recent report about potential widespread power blackouts in Europe in the coming winter.
The price of natural gas has tripled this year in Germany and the U.K., and prices for coal, oil and electricity are all zooming out of reach. Sharp shortfalls in electricity generated by idiotic, dysfunctional wind-power parks during the first half of the year, are part of the cause for the increases; so, too, is financial speculation, since energy prices are determined at the speculative spot markets for gas (TTF) in Amsterdam and for electricity in Leipzig. The dramatic rise in energy prices is bankrupting industries, consumers and energy companies alike, and is leading to the first shutdowns of energy-intense industries.
The British government called an emergency cabinet meeting today to address the crisis. Kwasi Kwarteng, U.K. Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, held talks today with energy suppliers about an expected wave that smaller providers will go bust in the weeks ahead, while putting on a stiff upper lip for the public by announcing that the government remains “confident that electricity security can be maintained under a very wide range of scenarios.” He dismissed rumors of impending rolling blackouts and a three-day work week.
