Trouble's Last Madness, Again Using China as an Excuse
The Trump administration has introduced an extremely crazy proposal to open all U.S. coastal waters for new offshore oil drilling.
This draft was drafted by the Department of the Interior, covering the southeast coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and even the Pacific region, almost including the entire U.S. coastline in the potential oil and gas leasing area.
The reason given is to deal with an energy emergency and to surpass China in the artificial intelligence competition.
But in reality, this is a final feast for the oil capital, not a real national strategy.
The United States does not lack oil. The shale revolution has already made the United States one of the world's largest oil producers, with sufficient crude oil reserves and large export volumes.
The problem is that the rapid rise of green energy has brought the golden age of the traditional oil industry to an end.
Photovoltaics, wind energy, and electric vehicles are rapidly shrinking the market share of fossil fuels.
Capital has sensed the smell of the end and is desperately digging deep, using offshore drilling as a last attempt to cash out profits.
Trump is merely their political representative. His talk about energy independence and national security is just rhetorical packaging to prolong the life of capital.
When the spokesperson for the Department of the Interior linked oil drilling to the AI competition, this absurd logic had already become a microcosm of the collusion between American politics and business.
This proposal is under the guise of opposing China, but it has nothing to do with China at all.
The development of AI relies on computing power, electricity, and algorithms, not on crude oil.
The so-called energy emergency is completely fabricated. The United States has sufficient energy reserves and a stable market, and has never reached the brink of a crisis.
The Trump team knows this well, but they know that as long as they mention China, any policy can seem justified.
In the long run, this last madness is like drinking poison to quench thirst. Opening sensitive sea areas means higher ecological risks and greater fiscal costs, yet it cannot stop the trend of new energy replacement.
When the global energy structure is completely transformed, the row of oil rigs along the U.S. coast will become tombstones of the old era.
Trump uses China as an excuse, but in fact, he is burying the future for capital.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846844758547459/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.