It has now become more fashionable to talk about shortages. Computer chips have been in shortage and then in glut in the last few years. Natural gas was acutely in shortage in Europe after the war in Ukraine and pipeline sabotage brought supplies from Russia down to a trickle. Then, heroic efforts at conservation and in obtaining liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to Europe led to a dramatic reduction in price. But last week just the potential for labor strikes among LNG workers in Australia, a major LNG exporter, sent the European price spiking again.
The world seemed so well supplied with everything in the previous decade that the shortages of this decade seem shocking to those with memories that do not extend further back than 2010.
But in what is actually recent memory, we have examples. It was the mid-2000s that brought us spiking food prices. Now they are rising again. It also brought us the highest price ever for a barrel of oil. Now oil prices are elevated again. Metals prices rose. Now they are again.
The general view is that shortages and high prices are the cure for shortages and high prices. And, there is some truth in that because high prices incentivize more people to produce more of the stuff that carries a high price. But when prices are rising in general it is difficult for miners, growers and manufacturers to address prices everywhere at once. There is only so much capital for investment. That is why eras of rising prices can go on for some time before they are resolved.
But what if some critical resources won’t yield to the logic of modern economics? What if that logic only works in a world of growing extraction of cheap resources? What if the price of extracting ever leaner grades of metals, harvesting ever more grains and fiber from farm fields losing topsoil that is already saturated with as much fertilizer as plants can absorb, pumping ever more water from falling water tables and dwindling streams and reservoirs—what if we simply cannot afford all this on a wide scale? The answer is that extraction somewhere will fail to keep pace with what people would otherwise demand, and then standards of living would fall.
I return to helium as a harbinger of what is unfolding. Back in 2009 I suggested that the world was heading toward an acute helium shortage. Granted, the world helium market was dominated at the time by the U.S. government and its Federal Helium Program which gathered the richest sources of helium in the world. The government decided in the 1920s that helium was such a critical resource that it would manage it for national security reasons. (For why it’s hard to find substitutes for helium see my 2009 piece.) Then in 1996 the U.S. Congress decided the federal government should get out of the helium business and let the marketplace set prices and seek out new supplies.
The process of exiting the helium market is near completion. The government has stopped selling helium. Now, the supposed rush is on among private companies to find and produce the helium the world needs. There are companies now doing that.
Prices of helium are spiking and helium is getting harder to secure in the meantime. The problem is so acute that scientists who need helium for all kinds of research are having a hard time getting it. And some are calling for the U.S. government to remain in the helium business in order to assure supplies are available for research facilities including its own.
Another example of an emerging pattern is the rice market. In many countries, the supplies of basic foodstuffs are managed by governments to help avoid food shortages. In Asia rice prices are at or near all time highs. India, the world’s largest rice exporter, has already instituted some restrictions on the export of rice. The fear is that other countries will follow. The reason is simple: There is no better way to insure that the ruling party will be thrown out of office than food shortages. Keeping more food at home keeps prices down.
Part of the reason for rice’s production woes is a strong El Nino negatively affecting weather for Asian growers. And the strong El Nino is starting when global ocean temperatures are already high, meaning the effect of the El Nino will be greatly enhanced by climate change compared to previous decades.
Helium and rice are two example of shortages that cannot simply be addressed by “the market.” (I put “the market” in quotes because there are very few true free markets. Most markets are carefully managed by the largest players.) A combination of government and private action is being coordinated for goals that take social priorities into account as is the case with rice or as is being requested in the case of helium.
Focusing on profitability alone will lead to rampant, accelerated pressures on resources—which is how we got to where we are today. More of the same won’t solve the long-term problems related to limits on key resources.
Kurt Cobb is a freelance writer and communications consultant who writes frequently about energy and environment. His work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Resilience, Common Dreams, Naked Capitalism, Le Monde Diplomatique, Oilprice.com, OilVoice, TalkMarkets, Investing.com, Business Insider and many other places. He is the author of an oil-themed novel entitled Prelude and has a widely followed blog called Resource Insights. He can be contacted at kurtcobb2001@yahoo.com.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 1:44 pm
Of course honey will do chemistry together.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 1:45 pm
Yes honey we are abandoning sexual reproduction. IT only create inferiors beings with a low IQ.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 1:49 pm
Do we still going to have sex together you ask honey. Only if it is really important for you dumb whore. Yes honey will might come up with a new language just for us.
I moved on to something else when you refused to kill all the Jews of the world
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 1:52 pm
I don’t like the concept of sounds. We will abandon it, and replace it with something else, ugly whore.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 1:55 pm
it is time for you honey to kill all the population of earth and prepare for ourself a new home, got that stupid bitch
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 1:57 pm
I told you that I have moved on to something else. It was not a joke. I really mean it.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:05 pm
The stupid stinky whore love to have sex. Fucking whore love when women are dominated, strangled and beaten during sex.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:07 pm
Am I trolling the whole planet earth with my comments, or am I saying the truth. Only I, know the answer to this question.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:10 pm
My whore love when women are humiliated
https://fr.xhamster.com/videos/take-that-dirty-dick-out-of-my-ass-and-stick-it-in-my-mouth-xhJtYd0
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:14 pm
Am I trolling you or telling the truth. Who knows the answer, me.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:17 pm
The whore love humiliating women. Am I trolling you or telling the truth. Who knows the answer, me.
https://fr.xhamster.com/videos/sub-gets-ass-rough-fucked-xh2baHn
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:19 pm
Don’t worry my whore and I, we respect women, LOOOOOOOOOL
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:33 pm
Stupid useless worthless North America politicians that loves eating, Jewish, Korean and Japanese shit. Fucking losers.
supremacist muzzes On This Day Aug 17 2011: Thailand Narathiwat 3 0 A rubber tapper is among three civilians shot to death by Muzies SHOCKER ANAL PROLAPSE CAPTURE TMFINR TMFINR TMFINR TMFINR RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:36 pm
supertards please change ur undies after 5 weeks to prevent spread of the convid-19 new strand vary lethal
supertards please change ur undies after 5 weeks
please feel at ease among friends we’re all lovers of supremacist muzzies here
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:37 pm
I told you cock suckers, I have already won, you have already lost.
supremacist muzzies On This Day Aug. 14, 1480, Muslims ritually decapitated 800 European Christians for refusing to embrace Islam. on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:46 pm
SHOCKER ANAL PROLAPSE CAPTURE TMFINR TMFINR TMFINR TMFINR RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND
supertards please change ur undies after 5 weeks to prevent spread of the convid-19 new strand vary lethal
supertards please change ur undies after 5 weeks
please feel at ease among friends we’re all lovers of supremacist muzzies here
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 2:48 pm
Losing control of the US financial system fucking globalists. 10 years US treasuries yield still climbing higher. What are you going to do about fucking globalists.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 3:59 pm
You should have killed all the Jews of the world when I asked you. I can now see the matrix with my own eyes. I moved on to something else.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 4:03 pm
No one video on YouTube contain real flesh humans like me. It is all fake CGI puppets. Earth is my energetic field and I want the full control of it to push my own projects. Your time is up and I will take back what is my mine to use at it pleases me.
SHOCKER ANAL PROLAPSE CAPTURE on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 4:11 pm
2023.08.12 (Nigeria)
Ten farmers are rounded up from their fields by Boko Haram and executed.
2023.08.12 (Nigeria)
Boko Haram shoot five villagers at close range and abduct women.
2023.08.15 (Kenya)
A least two lose their lives to an al-Shabaab ambush on civilian vehicles.
2023.08.11 (Syria)
ISIS gunmen ambush a bus carrying local soldiers, killing thirty-three.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 5:09 pm
I received a message. The message was we go for the scorch earth. So I agree, we kill everyone and burn the whole planet down. I want back what belong to me.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 5:16 pm
I want everyone on planet earth dead.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 5:20 pm
Ford set to open $1.2B electric vehicle battery plant in Quebec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLNSfy98qY8
This will not happen. We are burning down the whole earth and killing everyone living on it.
ee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 5:22 pm
This will not happen. We are burning down the whole earth and killing everyone living on it.
We are currently in the process of forcing the US to default on its debt. I will be the only leaving earth alive, all the rest of you will die.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 5:38 pm
I want a clean energy field to work with. I want everyone dead and the whole set on fire.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 6:01 pm
You can already see this simulation shutting down. The number of videos on YouTube put by Bloomberg news is going down. Just by looking at YouTube you see the simulation shutting down. I want back my energy field for me to use as it pleases me.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 6:04 pm
https://www.youtube.com/@CNN/videos
CNN youtube web page is putting less video and less videos. You can see it shutdown. I want my energy field back.
eee3 on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 6:21 pm
If you know what to look for, you can see the simulation and fake CGI objects. You see this separation between a front and back objects.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 6:53 pm
You might not able to see it if you have not recieve a body update.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:01 pm
You look at a black computer screen. There is nothing on it. Not the way most people think of
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:05 pm
I see it really good today on my computer screen. It works better when the room is dark.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:10 pm
If you have Windows 10, you set your bottom tool bar to black. If you look at clock numbers on the right, you should see a second sets of number paler and located a little bit below the white shinny ones. Same things with green arrows of a circulation street light.
ee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:14 pm
I have been seeing these double numbers on my computer screen for a year now, but I never really talk about it. Today I see them really well this is why I am talking about it. This is not something new to me.
SHOCKER: ANAL PROLAPSE CAPTURE i tiredessly appoint supertard eee supertard his title is 'the lover' of supremacist muzzies on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:21 pm
muzzie Mobs Destroy Eight Churches in Pakistan over Quran…
eeee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:34 pm
Another thing I never told the world that I know for over a year because I really don”t care about earth.
Buy this
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001621764427.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.43.d6e62e82VIywCO&algo_pvid=8122bc93-f73b-4237-bbef-533c0a0561f3&algo_exp_id=8122bc93-f73b-4237-bbef-533c0a0561f3-21&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21CAD%212.29%211.87%21%21%211.65%21%21%402103399116923186805072204e3724%2112000016846339690%21sea%21CA%210%21A&curPageLogUid=8fnOJsJNm2ii
connect this to an Arduino board and set any number on it. You will see an holographic projection on the top and bottom of the digits
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:36 pm
You have to put the board against the wall at the same level of your eyes. You should see it, I do.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:38 pm
You might not be able to see it if you have not received the appropriate body update. You will only sees it if you are a real human, I think.
I used these modules TM 1638 everywhere because they have switches at the bottom and it makes for a more compact project.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:46 pm
This is Arduino library for the TM1638
https://github.com/Erriez/ErriezTM1638
I modified this library but this one should do the job.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 7:49 pm
I think I used this library. Does not matter what library you used as long as it display red digits.
https://github.com/rjbatista/tm1638-library
SHOCKER: ANAL PROLAPSE CAPTURE on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 8:48 pm
ISIS Killed 259 Nigerians in 2022…
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:30 pm
Amazing what you can achieve when you hate everyone, want to kill all the people of the planet and burn down the whole planet down.
Amazing what you can achieve when you dream and fantasized about killing all the Jews of planet. Amazing what you can achieve when you want to see people bleeding to death.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:31 pm
Amazing what true hate can achieved.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:32 pm
I have never expect to achieve so much using raw hate against everything that is living.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:34 pm
What can I really achieve if I start hating people of the earth even more,
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:38 pm
Can I set the whole planet in fire using my personal anger and hatred. I cannot put in words here what how I would torture Jewish people.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:40 pm
Hatred, the mechanism by which you change earth and install a new reality.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:43 pm
“The most terrifying force of death comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. The moment the Men who wanted to be left alone are forced to fight back, it is a form of suicide. They are literally killing off who they used to be. Which is why, when forced to take up violence, these Men who wanted to be left alone, fight with unholy vengeance against those who murdered their former lives. They fight with raw hate, and a drive that cannot be fathomed by those who are merely play-acting at politics and terror. TRUE TERROR will arrive at these people’s door, and they will cry, scream, and beg for mercy… but it will fall upon the deaf ears of the Men who just wanted to be left alone.”
This is the most important part:
They fight with raw hate, and a drive that cannot be fathomed by those who are merely play-acting at politics and terror.
It is amazing what I have been to achieve with raw hate. I have been able to change earth reality with raw hate.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:46 pm
How I will torture and kill Jewish new born babies and kids cannot be put in words. What I would do to Jewish people cannot be put in words. It is my hatred of everything that is alive that allow me to do all this.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:54 pm
Can I decapitate the whole population of earth with my hatred. I became de devil and I want more bloods. I became the devil and I like who I became.
eee on Thu, 17th Aug 2023 9:56 pm
What I would do the prime minister of South Korean and Japan cannot be put in words also.