And here I was concerned that I was drifting too far off topic.

Fester,

The video you linked is about Soviet-style command economies, not energy markets in democratic nations. That has nothing to do with Australia’s renewable energy transition - or Germany’s, for that matter.

If anything, the video undermines your argument.

Why? Because Australia’s energy transition is driven by markets, competition, and technology, not Gosplan-style mandates. Solar and wind adoption in Australia exploded because consumers and companies saw the cost advantage, not because government commissars drew up a five-year plan.

The same goes for Germany - whatever policy flaws you might find, they weren’t caused by a lack of price signals or suppression of private enterprise. In fact, Germany’s Energiewende had market mechanisms like feed-in tariffs and grid auctions.

You’re applying 1950s critiques of Marxism to 21st century mixed economies. That’s ideological shoehorning.

Your use of the word "planned" is doing all the heavy lifting here. But all major infrastructure transitions involve some planning - roads, broadband, electricity - and that doesn’t make them "communist." There’s a difference between central coordination and central control. Australia still has competitive energy markets, private ownership, price discovery, and investor-driven deployment.

That’s capitalism, not collectivism.

As for Venezuela... the video never mentions it, nor does it describe conspiracies or foreign sabotage. So your claim that it "explains how central planning played a part in Venezuela’s collapse" is just free-association, not something grounded in the video’s content.

And even if Venezuela’s problems were partly due to centralisation (which no one denies), that still wouldn’t justify drawing a line from Australia’s rooftop solar to Chavez.

You're trying to lump all examples of government involvement into one undifferentiated blob called "planning" - and from there, argue they're all doomed to fail. That’s a category error. Government coordination isn’t communism. Markets with guardrails aren’t Marxism. And renewables backed by private capital aren’t planned economies.

If you’re going to cite Hayek or Mises, at least apply them correctly.

John,

You well demonstrate why many western economies are heading toward an economic train wreck with a planned economy style renewable energy transition. What is history other than an interesting story if you don't learn from it? That is the tragedy of your thinking.

Hi AC,

I also found this video of an interview with a Venezuelan who lived through the Chavez era, the guy once hailed as the hero of socialism who would show the world how to do it properly. (Spoiler alert: he didn't.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR1ggTYPsYs

Hi Fester,
I'm not against doing things that are better for the environment, I support them, but I don't believe in cutting our noses off to spite our faces.
You don't blow up the coal plants until the new technology is efficient and already in place.

Years ago I wondered how we make the country more competitive.
Do we attack the worker and lower the wages? (not popular)
Or do we find a way to lower energy and transportation costs?
When the price of energy goes up, so does everything in a supply chain, so for me, I want cheap energy in abundance, not high priced rations to please the energy conscious.

People that leave piss in a toilet to save water by flushing annoys me.
That's going to far, and the greenies can keep their stupid crickets and mealworms I'm not eating that crap.
They can go and eat cockroaches for all I care.

When it comes to rolling blackouts and poor planning.
My theory there is I'll tip diesel on car tyres and burn them, if that's what it means to keep the lights on and not go back to the stoneage.
Beyond that, I support doing things that are better for the environment.

I think they should put all the second-hand solar panels that still produce power out onto a big solar farm so we can maximise the power they produce in their lifespan.

There's plenty of things we could do, if we were inclined to do so.

And as for Maria Machado...
That Nobel prize wasn't given for past accomplishments anymore than it was given in order to try and help influence future events.

"Sincerity isn't the issue, mhaze."

Oh well...if you say so!! But you'll appreciate I just think your trying to find a way to sooth the hurt after she praised the person I call Trump and you call whatever derogative is to hand.

"There's no credible evidence of a 20 million figure"

That's why I said 10-20 million. There's no credible evidence for any number in particular. Biden opened the borders and they rushed in, uncounted and unvetted. All we know is that however many millions there were in January this year, there are around 2.5 million less now.

"Not anymore. I suggest you update your knowledge there."

Harvard/Harris poll October 1. "78% support deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes; 56% support deporting all undocumented immigrants."

Happy to help you update your knowledge there.

"Except it wasn't just me. It was a Reagan-appointed judge who made the Gestapo comparison"

Oh so someone else made the vial assertion and that means its ok if you do it too?

Trump hasn't instituted any new laws for ICE. He's just using the ones that were there before but ignored by Biden et al for base political purposes. Yes he found more money and more people but that's only because the problem is so much worse.

Hi AC,

Cheap energy. That is a must have if you want a good standard of living. As for what you pay people, I agree with a minimum wage, welfare and a public health system, but I think "worker" has such broad definition that it has little meaning.

Further on the subject of bricks nations, I was watching a blog on agriculture in RSA. More farmland per capita than Europeans, yet many are hungry and starving. Why do we hear of starving Gazans daily, yet hear nothing of RSA's incompetence. No Jews, no news.