The Administrative State took a major blow last week with the Supreme Court's ruling on West Virginia v. EPA. We've explained many times in this rag that the number one cause of many of the ills that plague our society in 2022 are driven by central planners attempting to control complex systems. There are few forces that are more centralized than the administrative state made up of hundreds of alphabet soup agencies here in the United States of America. By ruling in favor of the state of West Virginia last week the Supreme Court has significantly reduced the power of these alphabet soup agencies and given power back to individual states while putting the onus on Congress to pass laws instead of deputizing their jobs out to agencies like the EPA. Many are reading this ruling as something that is contained to the oil and gas industry and how the EPA has been enforcing the Clean Air Act, but make no mistake, this ruling should have consequences that extend far beyond the EPA and the Clean Air Act.

Time will tell whether or not this ruling has any actual teeth. There's a possibility that the administrative state has grown far too large and created an entrenched power structure that may prove too powerful to untether from the American public, but we hope to God this is not the case. Hopefully the ruling gives companies and individuals alike the confidence and ability to begin suing alphabet soup agencies for infringing on the rights of Americans t0 0perate within a free market.

If the ruling proves to have bite, this will bode well for the much maligned bitcoin mining industry, which has been singled out by hysteric moralizers for the amount of energy it leverages. It will be much harder for the EPA to thrust dubious carbon emmissions targets on the industry that reduce the potential opportunities for companies looking to mine cheaply no matter the source. On top of this, it will expand the amount of opportunities as oil, gas and coal producers are able to operate with more certainty.

This ruling couldn't come at a better time. It is becoming glaringly obvious that central planning of energy systems around the world is leading to extremely negative externalities that will harm more people than inaction could ever hope to - if one could even prove that the intent of those in favor of inaction is harm in the first place. It is time to stop attempting to placate the screeches emanating from an unproductive class more concerned with what other people think about them than actually providing the world with value via innovation or increased production efficiency.

By allowing the unproductive class to heavily influence policy, Germany - and by extension all of Europe, which heavily relies on Germany - has put itself in a position that may lead to the end of the Eurozone as we know it.  

Germany’s gas crisis in five charts

Germany, largely dependent on Russian gas to fuel its export-led economy and to keep homes warm, is bracing for a possible total halt in Russian supplies if Moscow steps up its use of gas as an economic weapon against the West while it wages war in Ukraine.

ReutersVera Eckert

When push comes to shove Germany will be forced to decide whether or not it should f0cus on the needs of German citizens over the needs of all Europeans. Europe may be posturing as if it is a very unified economic coalition at the moment, but that will change real quickly when Germans go hungry and cold as we head into Winter and are forced to put their self interest in front of other, historically unproductive, Europeans. The moment that happens could be the moment that marks the unofficial end of the European Union pipedream. It seems that markets are beginning to price in the possibility of this happening very soon.

Energy security is arguably the most vital type of security a developed economy depends on. It is in the best interest of everyone on the planet to strive for as much energy security as possible. Energy security is something that can't be dictated by central planners but must be brought to fruition by the free market as is evidenced by the absolute travesty unfolding in Europe, the United States and other parts of the world.

Hopefully the Supreme Court ruling in favor of West Virgina against the EPA is able to handcuff the central planners here in the US so that the free market can begin to properly fix the damage done by the Green New Deal types before we end up like Germany; completely "developed" yet unable to produce because of a multi-decade slow motion seppuku driven by pure virtue signaling.

Final thought...

I'm an island boy.