Germany

Europe of today is on a downward path to self-destruction. It all started in the 1980’s when Green Peace decided to end nuclear power and started the process which shut down all 23 nuclear power plants. Germany went all in on wind and solar but without realizing that they didn’t have much wind or sunshine. They followed this up with shutting down 15 coal plants with plans to shut down all by 2030. The big plan to replace nuclear with wind and solar fizzled out and was replaced instead with coal and Germany has lignite which is the dirtiest coal. Then the Ukraine War started and Germany shut down their access to Russian natural gas and had to start importing gas from the US and Qutar. The price of electricity in Germany is 46 cents per kwhr vs 17 cents in the US. The price of natural gas is four times higher than in the US. The result is that major industries like auto and chemical are reducing production and sometimes shutting down plants or relocating to other countries like the US. During Merkel’s term, the border was opened to 1.2 million immigrants which put a strain on social programs while at the same time the birth rate dropped and now, they face the problem of too many elderly and not enough young workers. The result is that Germany is entering its third straight year of recession. The most important thing that can turn things around is to end the war and bring back Russian natural gas. This same course of action was followed by the US but on a smaller scale. The US has now realized that wind and solar cannot replace fossil fuels and nuclear power is the way to deal with climate change.