Written by Grant G
I have more faith in a return of Mothra and Godzilla than that of a lucrative market in Japan for British Columbia LNG...Nuclear facilities, all 54 of them that have been shut down will be restarted, there are several factors involved in reaching this conclusion, the foremost being economic growth and stability, the second being energy security and the third of equal importance is short memories and pride.
Let`s start with the third issue, people`s memories of horror doesn`t last, remember the school shooting in Newtown, dozens of children slaughtered by a lone gunman wielding assault rifles, after the first gun-barrel carbon settled the push was on, gun control activists seized the moment, strike while the iron is hot, pictures of mourning parents, shattered lives and tales of heartache narrated by impassioned voices were soup de jour, from Piers Morgan to Charlie Rose, certainly change would result from the airing of the latest preventable gun horror, how could it not, what sane country would not toughen up gun laws?
The phrase "Time heals all wounds" comes to mind, as Americans settled back into a routine of watching Nascar, Honey Boo Boo and Jersey Shore the images of blood-stained hallways faded, changes to firearm purchases and acquisitions resulted in the status quo, gun crazy Americans can still purchase assault rifles online or at gun shows without even showing identification, not even the tiniest of safeguards were enacted, the American public has spoken, or more aptly, forgotten the recent past, "Time heals all wounds" phrase strikes again, little children lying in a pool of blood did nothing to change American gun laws, corporate ad nauseum from the dealers of death beat the drum, preached pretzel logic left a stunned president and both elected houses frozen in time, those innocent children might as well have been stampeding mass murderers who were gunned down, the result was and is the same....Status Quo
Japan, the only country with a large populous that was bombed, that was nuked, Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasted from the skies, hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians instantly vapourized, turned to dust, if there was one country that would have resisted developing nuclear facilities, one would have thought that Japan would never have caved into developing these facilities, after all, Japan lost the war over two aerial bomb droppings, fear, panic and resolve, scenes of white shadows and dust where once stood living people so scared the Japanese public that their warring ways instantly were quashed...Yet today, or should I say before the Fukushima tsunami nuclear disaster Japan had more nuclear facilities per populous than any other country in the world, the public was convinced, authorities assured the people and a nuclear power grid was established, ocean hydrates aside, we`ll discuss that new energy source in future posts, Japan, historically has always been energy poor, Japan imports crude oil, heating oil and natural gas, Japan also built 54 nuclear facilities...
back in the 1940`s and 50`s there was severe restrictions on electrical energy use, homeowners were allowed but a couple of light-bulbs of electrical use, nuclear power changed all that, with the advent of nuclear power Japan rose from the ashes to become an economic powerhouse, leading edge technology, electronics capital of the world, Japan had come of age, all fueled by nuclear power, of course outside factors besides environmental disasters and warring neighbors can wreak havoc too, the investor/banking class bulls of the world created a housing bubble in Japan that threw the country into a multi-decades long decline, one they still haven`t recovered from...However, Japan is still the world`s third largest economies..
Along comes the tsunami and Fukushima disaster and panic sets in, all 54 nuclear facilities are shuttered, the people of Japan need to be appeased, albeit temporarily, after every scene of horror, every episode of fear the activists come out, Japan`s anti-nuclear community came a calling, strike while the iron is hot shut down the nuclear industry and force the Government into renewable energy, and imported fossil fuels to take up the slack left by a shuttered nuclear facility, however, that decision comes at a cost, an extra $30 billion a year in gas imports, LNG imports, that on top of an already $75 billion per year on average import/export deficit, that is only the tip of the iceberg in costs related to shutting down their nuclear facilities....
With a shuttered nuclear industry the Japanese Government loses an estimated $10 billion yearly in taxation revenue, energy companies that provide electrical power run at a loss too, residential energy users, who are already the highest priced electrical consumers in the world see power bills spike even higher, thus taking away even more domestic spending power by the consumer, and those spiked electrical bills flow out of country, business and heavy industry relying on electricity see massive spikes in cost too...Japan, like America, like Canada, like every country the world are having difficulty in being competitive with cheap Chinese and Indian made goods as it is, now with Japan losing all their domestic electrical generating ability that disadvantage becomes unbearable, a deathblow to Japan`s economy , a slow-bleed economic killer, one that Japan can ill-afford to languish in...
There are reports published that confirm that if Japan doesn`t restart its nuclear facilities more than 700,000 Japanese people will be thrown into unemployment lines, 1000`s of those jobs are directly related to the nuclear facilities and surrounding communities, the remaining are employees that industry anticipates letting go as a result of Japan`s new found cost uncompetitiveness...
And when recent elections saw the Japanese public elect a new leader, Shinzo Abe, a new leader not opposed to restarting all 54 of Japan`s nuclear facilities, as with the Newtown shooting, as with Hiroshima, as with Japan`s great tsunami the public`s fear has subsided, environmental and health concerns have been trumped by the biggest fear the world has ever known, that being the corporatist mouth pieces who decry doom and gloom and an end of the world as we it know it today if the economy doesn`t function,..
Out with the old leader of Japan and in with the new, Shinzo Abe who`s first act as leader was crank up the printing press, $trillions of Japanese dollars were printed, the Nikkei(Japanese stock market) soared from 8000 level to near 14,000, a near doubling in one year, and this new leader of Japan is a corporatist too, he will be restarting all of Japan`s nuclear facilities, first for economic reasons, secondly people`s memories are short and corporate mouthpieces espoused by corporate media put the fear of god into people, spin, bluster and downright lies are slurped up by a gullible public, as witnessed here in British Columbia with Christy Clark`s LNG fantasy, logic, reality and fantasy converge where no one knows what to believe..
Japan has already restarted a couple of nuclear facilities, LNG exports to Japan(currently supplied by Qatar, Australia and others) are already in decline from peaks seen last year, Japan will continue to import less and less of that commodity, economic fear spoke louder than environmental fears, there is another reason too..
Energy security, no country likes to rely on other countries for security, the Strait of Hormuz, what happens with a middle east conflict, a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, labour strife in Australia, or pure blackmail, such as pay 10 times the price of North American LNG or get nothing, Christy Clark`s $trillion dollar prosperity fund comes to mind...Christy Clark told Japan that we intend to hold them up by their ankles and shakeout every yen within their pockets for decades to come...Our British Columbian paved in gold highways funded off the backs and wallets of the Japanese people..
Japan IS starting all their nuclear facilities, they may even build more of them, Shinzo Abe will not be blackmailed over LNG, Japan will not rely on the kindness of strangers, Japan wants energy security, and at this time in the ongoing story of mankind that means emission`s free, no greenhouse gases nuclear facilities, it also means the development of ocean methane hydrates,
Fear comes in many colours, shades of gray mainly, environmental fear, energy security fear, having to rely on other countries just to turn on a domestic light-bulb, there is also economic fear, the mighty yen and a job to toil in..
There is one more factor, one rarely discussed...Pride.
Japan will not be bent over an energy barrel by Christy Clark, the Australians or the damn Yankees.
Pride trumps all.
Happy, not feeling patriotic Canada Day from the Persuader
The Straight Goods
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
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