It is wonderful to see courageous Cubans fighting for freedom from their oppressive socialist regime. One of many areas where freedom would transform Cuba is in the realm of energy, where socialist policies are destroying enormous potential.
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Cuba holds over 7% of the proven reserves of cobalt, about 500,000 metric tons, the third largest known deposit after Congo and Australia. Yet In 2020 it mined less than 5,000 metric tons.
Cobalt is traded internationally for about $50k per ton. Increasing Cuba’s output with free enterprise investment could create hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in export revenue and create productive, well-paying jobs for Cubans.
Despite significant oil reserves, only surpassed by those of Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean, Cuba imports tens of thousands of barrels of oil daily from places like Venezuela. Much of that oil gets inefficiently burned for electricity.
Instead of modernizing its electricity infrastructure and building low-cost, reliable generating capacity, the government of Cuba created a goal of increasing "renewable" electricity sources. This is a crazy focus in a desperately poor country.
Cuba is a country with wonderful potential: amazing people, great environment, and, in the realm of energy, lots of valuable mineral resources. But that potential is destroyed by socialism. Unleashing Cuba's potential requires political and economic freedom.
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A 1976 @nytimes feature on catastrophist Stephen Schneider falsely described him as "reflecting the consensus of the climatological community": "The climate is going to get unreliable. It is going to get cold. Harvest failures and regional famines will be more frequent."
"Climatologists....can predict what temperature averages and extremes to expect over the next 10, 20, or 30 years...And they are predicting greater fluctuations, and a cooling trend for the northern hemisphere."
I live in CA, a state that, as a result of its "clean energy standard," which favors unreliable electricity, just announced a Stage 2 Power Grid Emergency.
And yet The @Guardian assures us that a far more aggressive nationwide "clean energy standard" will work out great.
To learn about California's disastrous electricity policy and why it's a terrible to do a doubled-down national version, read this: energytalkingpoints.com/california-bla…
I held a contest to refute this @BernieSanders claim:
“The USA put people on the moon 50 years ago. We can sure as hell transform our energy system away from fossil fuels to 100% renewables today and create millions of jobs in the process.”
This response captures my essential answer, which is that BS's statement conflates a technological achievement (making something work at any cost) with an economic achievement (making something work cost-effectively for the masses).
I love this response, which cracked me up and saddened me at the same time. It alludes to the difference between a technological and economic achievement, but does so with a devastating depiction of a "100% renewable world."
I have yet to meet one single person who, if tasked with finding a CEO for a business, would choose Joe Biden or Gavin Newsom. Yet we now have a political system in which such people can dictate the goals and strategies of every business. Why does anyone think this is good?
I think many people have misinterpreted my point. I am not in favor of people "running the government like a business." *I am against the government running businesses.* That is not what the Federal and State governments used to do.
Thanks to everyone who pointed out that Newsom is a problematic example because he has had business success. I should have done my homework.
Newsom came to mind immediately when thinking of people who clearly do not understand or care about the *freedom* that business requires.
Today, it is considered American for government to pursue "the common good" by dictating how we live or by taking huge portions of our earnings. I disagree.
I agree with philosopher Ayn Rand that *individual rights* are what make America America. 🧵
"America’s founding ideal was the principle of individual rights. Nothing more—and nothing less. The rest—everything that America achieved, everything she became...unprecedented in human history—was the logical consequence of fidelity to that one principle." -Ayn Rand
"All previous systems had held that man’s life belongs to society, that society can dispose of him in any way it pleases, and that any freedom he enjoys is his only by favor, by the permission of society, which may be revoked at any time." -Ayn Rand