One of the best ways to create an environment in which an economy can thrive is to have abundant, reliable, reasonably priced energy; a sure way to destroy an economy is to make it so only the rich can afford the utilities.

Here, Pakistan accepted China’s help, just like many poor countries around the world, and became energy dependent on China. Now, the Pakistani people can’t afford the energy bill, and Pakistan is in massive debt to China.

Pakistan’s Reliance on Chinese-Built Power Plants Is Strangling Its Economy

Pakistan turned to Beijing to solve a crippling energy shortage. Now, crushed under debt and sky-high energy prices, its economy is diving.

When Muhammad Imtiaz received an electricity bill of over $120 last summer, he panicked. The bill, for June and July, was all he earns in a month of ferrying passengers on his motorbike in the scrappy suburbs outside Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.

In his two-room home, where he lives with his wife and four children, he only has a fridge and lights. He runs two fans in the summer months when heat can exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

‘Should I give my rent, pay the electricity bill, or buy food for my children?’ said Imtiaz, who has racked up $3,000 in debt. His family has one meal a day: watered-down lentils with flatbread.

A decade ago, Pakistan, cripplingly short of power, turned to Beijing to build more than a dozen coal, solar and hydroelectric power plants as part of China’s huge infrastructure push in the country.

Now a series of policy mistakes by Islamabad means that Pakistan has enough electricity and more—but, due to the huge debt owed to China, few can afford it.

China cares about power and control. They could care less about the people. 

President Trump, during his first term, told Germany and other NATO countries that they would be stupid to rely on Russia. They laughed at him. Germany also went all in for solar.

Now, according to AI on Google, Germany’s electricity price is .43 per kilowatt hour compared to the U.S. average of .12 per KWH. So for their stupidity, or their arrogance to pretend they can control the climate, German citizens pay over 350% more for their electricity than Americans.

It would be stupid for the U.S. to forgo mining all so they can pretend they can control the climate, which would result in us becoming dependent on China for rare earth minerals.

The United Nations and other elitist green pushers go around the world lecturing countries not to use natural resources which provide reasonably priced energy. They certainly don’t care about the poor and middle classes. They want money from the United States and other developed countries. They don’t care about destruction. They pretend they can control the climate.

Joe Biden spent the last four years signing executive orders and issuing regulations to block the future production of reasonably priced energy provided by coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Not once has he cared about the destruction his policies cause to the poor, middle class, or businesses because of much higher costs, which ripple through the entire economy.

After 160 years of warming, supposedly caused by a rising population, cars, and our use of natural resources, most of the U.S. is now 15 to 20 degrees below normal with massive snows. The science is settled. The climate has always been cyclical and natural. Switching to electric cars to control the climate has as much scientific support as six-foot social distance to control COVID… which is none. 

On a personal note: I live in Springfield, Illinois, where we get our power from a city-owned utility powered by coal. The power plant has scrubbers, which clean up the coal emissions. I have lived within one mile of this power plant for 45 years. Not once have I been scared to open my windows or go outside because of the coal. The air is clean.

Around 20 years ago, the city spent $600 million to upgrade the power plant. It met all environmental specifications at the time but because of new EPA rules, it (and other reasonably priced and reliable coal plants) will have to be decommissioned before their useful life is up to pretend the government can control the climate. Biden and other green pushers care as much about the poor and middle class as they do about taxpayers.

The warmest day in Springfield was 112° in July of 1954 during a global cooling period. As our population and power usage has risen substantially, the temperature has remained colder for seventy years.

Government policies should be based on facts, not easily manipulated computer models which get the results they want. It is junk science.

Thank goodness we now have Trump (again) who knows the way to prosperity and low inflation is through more energy production and fewer regulations.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.