Why Europe’s Energy System Collapsed | The Cost of Luxury Beliefs (Debt, Time, Power,…)
Why is Europe’s energy system so fragile today, and how did a continent that once mastered energy security become so dependent on imported gas and unstable global supply chains? In this video, The Capital Anatomy breaks down the political, economic, and industrial story behind Europe’s energy crisis, from the 1970s oil shocks and France’s nuclear buildout to Germany’s Energiewende, LNG dependence, deindustrialization, and the rise of what the script calls “luxury beliefs.”
We explore how energy policy drifted away from physics, affordability, and industrial survival, and toward symbolism, regulation, and moral posturing. The video covers Europe’s shrinking energy self-sufficiency, the risks of LNG chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz, high industrial electricity prices, BASF’s struggles in Germany, the collapse of manufacturing competitiveness, and the sharp contrast with China’s pragmatic industrial strategy and America’s shale-driven energy abundance.
If you are interested in energy security, European economics, geopolitics, natural gas, nuclear power, industrial decline, global supply chains, and the future of the Western economy, this deep-dive is for you.
This video is for analysis, commentary, and personal opinion only. It is not financial advice, investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset.
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29 Comments
What do you think broke Europe’s energy system most: ideology, bad incentives, weak leadership, or simple denial of physical reality? Drop your thoughts and questions below, I want to read them all. And if you enjoy this kind of deep economic analysis, please subscribe to The Capital Anatomy for more.
Can you name these people that spearheaded such stupidity.
Thank you
🧃
Islam is the Green party
Not the politicians fault. It is the people that elect them. Put the blame where it belongs. The stupid voters.
Retired Virginia veteran here. Europeans need to realize that American army now directly controls well over half of the worlds energy supplies and is not only the worlds largest producer of oil but is also currently the biggest supplier of oil to Europe 😊 Japan just signed a deal with America for 500 billion dollars of oil in long term contracts. America is getting very rich selling oil and gas and weapons, energy and weapons are America's 2 biggest industries,and America gets no oil from Persian gulf 😮 why should America do Europeans any favors by opening up the Persian gulf? We Americans know that Europeans hate our guts WE KNOW no use anyone denying it it's painfully obvious. European politicians should plan on Persian gulf remaining closed and follow the Japanese example and buy recently acquired Venezuela oil from American army for future security. Remember buying from America is more expensive but the buyers get the fringe benefit of having thier energy supplies being delivered guarded by united states military power ,delivery is garrantied from western hemisphere .Venezuela oil was going to china and it's allies but they made a big mistake and prematurely challenged America and now thier oil supply and thier ally belong to American army ,Venezuela has the largest proven energy reserves on earth and massive amounts of critical minerals for defense industry Venezuela can supply Europe for many many decades with reliable oil and gas and vital minerals for defense industry . European politicians called the seizure of Venezuela oil illegal and have so far refused to do business with American army that now controls it. Maybe Europeans will use high morals to fuel their cars and trucks and trains and planes and heat thier homes and next winter will be the worst in many years because of massive EL ninio forming now in eastern pacific. Europe must learn how to see and plan ahead, only an idiot could fail to see the steady rise in tension and the steady American military buildup and not even begin to have a plan for dealing with what was coming. The moral of the story is Europeans need to realize that this world is not being run on your wants and wishes .😮
When it comes to EU federalist I'm not sure if they would ever accept any of the criticism or debate on any of their failures. Literally any time anyone has ever brought up anything such as how they need to increase spending for European militaries and how European nations need to maintain military related industries at scale within various nations as it isn't something you can spin up overnight and the decades of accumulated knowledge with the workers and technicians etc needed for vehicle, weapon and monitions production are gained over decades. With Europe finding out hard that lacking this after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine hurts badly and trying to replace these is in fact really difficult and really costly after decades of them dismissing any one and everyone who was telling them exactly that.
What was the reply from multiple Europeans ? "You must be a Russian bot or a Putin lover "?!?!?!? "Stop sucking maga's dick" ?!?!?!
Like the immediate visceral reaction from Europeans in particular French and Germans who were constantly going on about how Europe needs to be strong and independent when someone then talks with others about Europe should increase funding for their military and defense industries to maintain the ability to defend themselves against external aggression and act as a deterrent to the Russians. Immediately accuse them of being a Russian bot? xD
Well, we have always had greedy elites who lived in bubbles. We have always had politicians who would sell out their constituents for power. We have always had dominance hierarchies based on one characteristic or another. We have had socialists trying to upend societies for a hundred years. But the latest mind virus is different. Causing the loss of traditional beliefs, family, religion, nation, declining marriage and declining birth rates. Electing bad politicians just goes with the mindset of people who ditch god, family and country for ideology and actually thinking they are the smart and morally superior ones.
That policy of electricity being rounded into its most expensive form is just unbelievably stupid.
The politicians and government have now proven beyond any doubt to everyone that politicians are USELESS and WORTHLESS!
😡
Any society that depends on another society for its energy is a weak society.
I have lonv believed that Europe is an economic busted flush. I now believe that it is an out of control bureaucracy which is destroyi ng its own economy and impoverishing its own people. It is doing this as a vanity project to be the "greenest" area in the world. This lunacy needs to stop NOW. The self righteous elite wont suffer from the consequences but the ordinary people will suffer badly.
All the WEF nonsense over the years and the infiltration of Western governments by multinational corporations suggests emphatically that the de-industrialization and wealth centralization were well thought out. The sinister practice of subsidizing all of their companies risks with taxpayer money while hoarding all the profits has bankrupted the West. Only the U.S. has done a reverse away from these society destroying policies.
What can you expect when the decision makers are people who can't even nail a wood shack – zero technological and real project management know how. For example, it has become obvious in discussions with people who think wind power is an option to nuclear/coal/oil, that they don't have the brain structure to understand that when there is no wind, the wind power is 0MW. They keep repeating "but we have 1600 x 1MW windmills so why did we build a 1600MW nuclear plant". Also, they are completely unable to understand there is no solar power at night and/or when the cells are covered by snow or sand (remember the German moronic plan to produce European energy with solar cells in Sahara).
Europe has become the "Bike Fall Meme" in so many ways.
The reason is quite simple. Your political leaders have responsibility not before people of Germany but Black Rock. And they do whatever Black Rock have have been told them
Europe did not end up energy-fragile by accident. Blind politicians spent years pandering to climate absolutists, attacking reliable domestic energy, and burying industry under costs and regulations it could not carry without losing competitiveness. The result is exactly what any serious person should have predicted: fewer jobs, weaker self-sufficiency, more dependence on imports, and more strategic vulnerability. Calling this “progress” does not make it intelligent. It just makes failure sound moral.
Let's classify our problem as on common to our species. One species. Aside from geopolitical classifications, we now pay for the party. Instead of taking on planetary issues in a wise way, we will be paying in consequences. Fortuitously arrogance and fear have closed the Straits of Hormuz. Not smart, but a planet saving event. The issue of resource distribution remains. Capitalism must collapse.
When did all this crap started? At the same time as WEF meetings were being held!
Du som berättar är ju lika hjärntvättad.
Co2 är livets gas.
Allt är precis tvärtom.
Indonesians : Hey Mister/Missus Orang-outan, SCRAM or we will set this tree alight. We need to plant Palm Oil trees for the Germans GREEN DIESEL !
Europeans have been dumbed down for decades now. When ideology trumps common sense the result is always catastrophe.
Only the CDU can save 🇩🇪Germany.
🇩🇪GERMANY will never go back to nuclear energy.
We will soon be producing green steel and have plans for the worlds largest battery factory.
💪🏻🇩🇪GERMANY IS NUMBER 1 !!!
I live in a region that has an overcapacity of hydro electricity. The utility is gov't owned. However, they are busy contracting wind farms to support the steel and cement industries that also have over capacities. Some 25% of the hydro energy is sold to a massive aluminium industry at COST OF PRODUCTION. A massive subsidy for an industry that annually produces up to 6 megatonnes of CO2_E 100 years. All of the bauxite is imported from the tropics on ships that burn multiple tonnes of fuel oils every day of their long voyage.. The gov't denies the right to build pipelines and refuses to allow the exploitation of, reportedly, large oil and gas reserves. Therefore, oil and refined energy products are imported. Insanity !
I am getting sick of this particular AI voice and narrative.
but we are not dying in Ukraine because one old vegetable in the Kremlin
In the future of Star Trek people don’t have to work for a living. They work because they enjoy what they are doing. If they need something they go to a machine and it fabricates it in seconds at zero cost. Our “educated” elites think we can just shut down the power plants and skip over all the messy bit of finding some way to power it all. You can’t have a green future without an endless supply of free or nearly free energy. It’s not possible with today’s technology. We don’t have antimatter reactors, replicators or matter transporters. We have to make things by hand with power we extract by hand. We can’t just put everyone on welfare to “improve” their lives if there’s no one to grow the food and produce the energy we need to survive. The energy policies of the elites are basically no different than let them eat cake. Except there is no cake. At least not for the masses. There will always be someone hungry and desperate enough to make cake for the elites. Just enough to feed their children.
It's a democracy don't you know. Mr shitsack of the tories, blames labour. Mr smear stoma, of the labour party says it's the fault of Mr shitsack and Mr dead wavey says it's the fault of Mr shitsack and Mr stoma.