Dear Jim,
I’ve been following your web-site for a while now and am amazed how you and your members chime in with very news worthy items sometimes weeks before the mainstream media starts covering them. One latest point would be the CountryWide Equity Line suspension finally made our local evening news last night.[It was mentioned in SurvivalBlog on February 5th.]
I was stunned to read today in The Wall Street Journal that coal prices, which once were steadily priced in the $20 per metric ton range began trading in the $40 to $60 range from mid-2003 to mid- 2007, then with the sudden shift of China becoming a net importer of coal, the price has shot up to over $120. per metric ton this week (source: WSJ cites: globalCOAL; ‘The price per metric ton for coal out of Newcastle, Australia, is a key benchmark for the Asian market’). When a country the size of China suddenly becomes a consumer in a global market where they once were a provider – this will have huge far reaching consequences. Our already taxed energy system, which relies heavily on coal for electricity, will only go up in price because they have to compete in this global market. We have a country that has not added infrastructure to our oil refineries, natural gas extraction, or nuclear power in decades. Our country is not in a position to simply shift our consumption to a different resource.
How do you see these realities of the international coal markets affecting the United States? The price for electricity must follow in tandem with these resource price increases.
Thanks for the great web-site! – Dennis