Talking points roundup: the poverty rate in China vs the US, how industrial progress made humans taller, LNG exports lowering energy prices, and more
Also: lack of pipeline capacity in the Northeast, the Supreme Court’s new climate lawfare case, anti-fossil-fuel policies in California, and UK sabotaging its energy security
Here are some of my favorite talking points I’ve created or shared over the last week.
On the poverty rate in China vs the US:
It’s hard to imagine a more dishonest graph than this one by The Guardian claiming China is bringing people out of poverty while the US is not.
The US poverty rate has been so low for >30 years that it wouldn’t even show up on the China graph if it had been plotted to scale!
On how industrial progress made humans taller:
If you know anyone who likes to romanticize the past before the Industrial Revolution, show them this chart.
Today, if a man is under 5’6, he’s considered unusually short. But that would have been unusually tall for practically all of European history until the twentieth century. Germans have gained over half a foot on average since the generation born in the 1850s!
What made this possible?
Freedom, which liberated the power of the reasoning human mind to invent better nutrition, cleaner water, and modern medicine that allowed man to grow—literally.
On lack of pipeline capacity in the Northeast:
The Northeast built almost no new natural gas pipeline capacity last year because anti-fossil-fuel policies make pipelines so difficult to permit.
Pennsylvania has abundant natural gas that could lower the Northeast’s high regional energy prices—but not if there aren’t enough pipelines to transport gas to demand centers!
We need to unleash pipeline construction in America.
On the Supreme Court’s new climate lawfare case:
I hope the Supreme Court will make the right call and throw out this bogus Colorado lawsuit seeking “climate damages” from Suncor and Exxon Mobil.
The idea that oil companies owe us for “climate damages” caused by the negative side-effects of fossil fuels is totally absurd.
The oil products of companies like Suncor and Exxon Mobil make us far safer than ever from climate, not more endangered! And in any case we have all chosen to use those products, and to make them legal in the first place.
On anti-fossil-fuel policies in California:
The government of California has waged war on our in-state fossil fuel supply for decades.
Now we rely on 1) limited and expensive in-state fossil fuels, and 2) expensive fossil fuel imports from out of state.
Is it any wonder why we have among the highest gas prices in the US?
On UK sabotaging its energy security:
The UK, which has spent the last two decades sabotaging domestic natural gas production, imports a significant portion of its natural gas.
Now, the war in Iran is disrupting gas imports and driving prices way up.
The lesson: National security requires energy security, and energy security requires energy freedom!
On New York’s abuse of the Clean Water Act:
New York is once again abusing the Clean Water Act to impede the construction of the Constitution Pipeline, which would be a huge help in reducing electricity prices in the Northeast.
Congress should take away state veto power over water-related projects by passing the PERMIT Act, which has passed the House and is being considered by the Senate.
On LNG exports lowering energy prices:
LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports don’t raise our energy prices.
Exporting natural gas supports a profitable and growing US natural gas industry, which leads to lower energy prices long-term!
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China is playing the West like a fiddle. Their "green energy" industry is simply aimed at the naive West who willingly buy their dubious wind turbines (that few will invest in) and solar panels that get smashed in the latest hailstorm. Have you seen what happened in Australia? WAKE up, everyone.
That China-US poverty comparison is literally the textbook definition of lying with statistics: one of the first things they warn you against in a stats 101 class is not to compare charts with two different scales!