For those who are unfamiliar with China’s Great Leap Forward from the early 1960s, it was essentially where the Communists forced the industrialization of an agrarian economy, and it resulted in one of the worst famines in history:
From 1960–1962, an estimated thirty million people died of starvation in China, more than any other single famine in recorded human history. Most tragically, this disaster was largely preventable. The ironically titled Great Leap Forward was supposed to be the spectacular culmination of Mao Zedong’s program for transforming China into a Communist paradise. In 1958, Chairman Mao launched a radical campaign to outproduce Great Britain, mother of the Industrial Revolution, while simultaneously achieving Communism before the Soviet Union. But the fanatical push to meet unrealistic goals led to widespread fraud and intimidation, culminating not in record-breaking output but the starvation of approximately one in twenty Chinese.
Thirty million people needlessly died in China during the Great Leap Forward. And some estimates say the number could be even twice as high.
It really clicked for me, after seeing all the completely avoidable and totally manmade disasters and crises that are currently unfolding, that we in America and in Europe are at risk of going through our own version of the Great Leap Forward as our leaders pursue “sustainable” and “green” policies at any cost.
Hedge fund manager Kyle Bass made this point yesterday:
Let me give an example of what I’m talking about:
California is doing everything it can to encourage residents to buy electric vehicles.
Yet barely a week later, they’re telling people to avoid charging their EVs as doing so takes up too much electricity, which they have a shortage of:
Even Elon Musk has said that we do not yet have the capacity for everyone in the country to drive an electric car, yet government officials charge ever onward toward a future where gas-powered cars are a thing of the past. It’s all bound to end in disaster, and it’s because when governments try to dictate policies based on their dreams, rather than the practical reality, the end result will be failure. In other words, we can’t just transition to an all EV nation because the green left Really Really Wants to and thinks oil is icky.
None of this is based on “science” or any sort of informed decision-making.
Energy prices in Europe are skyrocketing because of the EU’s commitment to ESG–read: green, renewable, sustainable–energy policies despite them not having the capacity to power their economies. With the Russians turning the gas supply to Europe off, Europeans will be struggling to keep the lights on–and the heaters in the winter.
In other words: you can’t power a modern economy with wind farms and solar panels just because you Really Really Want to and you think fossil fuels are icky.
The moment the government starts messing with the farms, and the energy producers, in the name of “sustainability” or whatever high-minded ideal they’re envisioning, it’s going to be a disaster.