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by Mindwipe 1383 days ago
Ultimately if the UK were to start protecting it's gas output then a) the value of British currency would likely drop even further, pushing up inflation and prices further and b) the UK can't cover it's peak electrical supply, and it is unlikely the rest of Europe would continue to sell it electricity to cover peak if the UK was entering into that sort of protectionism.
2 comments
rewrewrewqf 1383 days ago
>the value of British currency would likely drop even further, pushing up inflation and prices further

Why?

Examining a relatively similar historical record of exporting scarce resources that are in high domestic demand, are you telling me the Irish potato famine was the best that could have happened?

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ZeroGravitas 1383 days ago
In economic terms, if they could sell the produce for more money to the UK and use that money to buy food to feed themselves, then they'd come out ahead.

Instead, very similar to what the UK is doing with gas, they sell the gas to the EU and keep the profits in private hands and let the poor people starve/freeze.

The key missing element is a government that cares about your life if you are poor and can't be bought off by fossil fuel interests.

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rewrewrewqf 1382 days ago
Ah I see - the idea is sound, it's just the implementation that was faulty. Tell me, how do sellers access international markets without several layers of collective bargaining?
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Mindwipe 1383 days ago
Because currency markets are generally negative towards government intervention and economic protectionism. You can say that's reasonable or unreasonable, but it's unquestionably true. The UK has suffered over the last six months for example from not increasing interest rates faster. An increase in interest rates would have been unpleasant for homeowners (I know, I am one), but it would have strengthened the value of the pound against the dollar, and that would have helped with energy costs significantly as it would have increased the UK's ability to buy.

I'm not really sure the Irish Potato Famine is relevant, given Ireland barely had it's own currency at the time (British pounds were in widespread use, and the value of the Irish pound was fixed to the British one).

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LatteLazy 1383 days ago
Not to mention all the other things we rely on our neighbours to sell to us like food and medicine...
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