CNBC: Europe’s gas price cap leaves some nations dismayed, saying it’s far too high
* Energy ministers of the EU are due to meet Thursday to debate the price cap proposal.
* “It will be a meeting with grumpy people,” an EU official told CNBC.
* Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Kadri Simson, European commissioner for energy, said the proposal is “balanced” and it will help the bloc avoid excessively high prices.
Several EU member states are not happy with the bloc’s proposed cap on natural gas prices — at 275 euros per megawatt hour — which aims to prevent sky-high costs for consumers.
Introducing a cap on gas prices has been one of the more controversial measures for Europe amid an acute energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 27 EU leaders gave political backing to the idea in late October, after several months of discussions.
But, a handful of nations are demanding concrete safeguards before greenlighting the proposal, while others say the cap is too high.
Read more ....
Update #1: Polish climate minister says EU gas cap proposal is a 'joke' (Reuters)
Update #2: Furious EU countries rage over gas price cap proposal (Politico).
Update #3: 'It's a bad joke': Energy ministers blast proposed EU cap on gas prices (Euronews).
WNU Editor: These price cap proposals are either nonsense. No one is going to sell any product that is below their costs. Natural gas included.
Actions: meet consequences. No amount of whining to the energy producers or the USA is going to bail you out of your own decisions. Either undo the decisions or live with the mistake.
ReplyDeleteyep
DeleteIn WWII the U.S. had price controls. It worked. But the issue here is a bunch of nations trying to agree.
ReplyDelete"Yes, WW2 was a happy go lucky time." - Blinkers
ReplyDeleteThere was no union unrest. But there was.
There was rationing. Pillars of the community used their influence to get around those.
A quick check finds:
The dockers, Churchill and the war's most shameful secret: Second World War strikes reveal disgusting lack of patriotism
Was the US any different than the British, because they are a different subspecies of homo sapiens sapiens?
"In the spring of 1941, a wave of strikes began to sweep American defense plants–one of the most bitter in Wisconsin, at the Allis-Chalmers plant manufacturing turbine engines for navy destroyers. More than 3,500 strikes took place through 1941, cutting defense production by 25 percent."
ReplyDeleteOh Noes!
Even in 1944, the last full year of the war, the numbers didn’t improve. There were no fewer than 4950 work stoppages costing 8.7 million labor days—enough to build two thousand B-17's. The week before D-Day, twenty-eight factories were on strike in Detroit alone.
Oh Noes!
Dey want no price controls on dem wages!
get a blog
DeleteThe problem, of course, is that these indices often failed to account for the quality‐ or time‐adjusted product prices people really faced. When producers cannot increase prices to turn a profit, they are incentivized to reduce product quality. A 1943 appraisal for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics concluded, “We believe that consumers’ goods and services, in the aggregate, have since 1939 suffered some loss of quality that is not reflected in reported prices.”
ReplyDeleteContemporary wartime letters describe meat quality “that no amount of working can make tender” and a recent NPR report documents how “meatpackers began filling sausages and hot dogs with soybeans, potatoes, or cracker meal,” sold steaks with extra bone weight, or misrepresented the quality of cuts to circumvent price ceilings. Coffee became mixed with roasted cereal, dried grass was sold as tea and there was obvious “shrinkflation” in candy bars.
Exactly what was taught in high school freshman Comparative Political and Economics.
A person could have leaned all that as freshman, if they had known how to read at the time.
Nixon listened to experts and instituted price controls. They failed. Did price controls last into the Ford or Carter admins? If not, why not? Hmmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteSo super duper smart people want price controls. Now we know, who was cutting up class in secondary school, and college and not paying attention.
sorry to say but price controls worked. yes. there was labor unrest. and yes, many able bodied men went off to the war. and yes: women left the home and got jobs to help. and yes, blacks from the south moved north and got work. and yes: we won the war.
ReplyDeleteWorld trade was not completely globalized before WW2. Price controls work when production occurs within the same mandate of the consumers. How will the EU force the rest of the world to sell them discounted gas? In WW2 Roosevelt could just throw anyone he wanted to in jail for not complying with his policies. So yeah, compliance was assured. Perhaps the new 5,000 man EU army will roam the earth stealing LNG tankers?
ReplyDeletedon't laugh--maybe that's next!
Delete"In WW2 Roosevelt could just throw anyone he wanted to in jail for not complying with his policies. "
ReplyDeleteOBVIOUSLY YOU DID NOT RED OR DID NOT WANT TO READ THE LINKED ARTICLE.
get off it, jackass
Delete
ReplyDeletefdr and his administration had wartime regs in place. It was a major war. NZO stoppages at places working for the war effort. We won. Prices stabilized for that period. may or may not work now but my suggestion was for discussion as one possible approach. To jump on me as though you have an approach that works would be ok if you tell us what that approach is. Now let us hear from you.
"It was a major war." Did anyone say otherwise?
ReplyDelete"NZO stoppages at places working for the war effort. " Do you want to restate that in English this time, son?
What does NZO stand for?
a) New Zealand Obese Medical, Diabet, Genetics
b) Nederlandse Zuivel Organisatie
c) New Zealand Oil
d) New Zealand Open
e) New Zealand Opera
f) New Zionist Organization
g) Nitrogen-doped ZnO
Can't be (e). Sonny is into smut.
"We won." Is that news flash?
"Prices stabilized for that period." And this is where you try to bull your way through yelling "Lalalalalalalala" You did not read the article at the link. Nor did you have economics in HS or college, which makes you a big time ignoramus on the subject.
"To jump on me ..." Yes, it is necessary. You are an idiot.
and you are a prissy faggot
Deletewhat asshole snark from name-calling trumptards who only revile those who differ from them. Grow up, little ones. This Trump-like stuff is why Trump lost *yes he did) and why the GOP is turning on him now.
ReplyDeleteAnyway. EU leaders are wasting time pretending this horseshit can possibly work instead of preparing for 5 million more refugees.
ReplyDelete