“If we believe that somehow the market is going to take care of this, that you put a price on carbon and everything will sort itself out, or that we can shame companies into doing it, then I think we’re kidding ourselves. This needs a very significant interventionist approach and all industries have to be part of the intervention.”

– Ben van Beurden, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell. Quoted in Akshat Rathi and Laura Hurst, “Look Who’s Talking About Zero Emissions.” (Bloomberg: June 9, 2020)

Enron’s Ken Lay. BP’s John Browne. Duke Energy’s James E. Rogers. T. Boone Pickens. GE’s Jeff Immelt. And now Shell’s Ben van Beurden.

Welcome to the swamp of political correctness when industry leaders morph into apologists for mineral energies and endorse open-ended government intervention for forced energy transformation from dense, reliable energies to dilute, intermittent ones.…

“In a reset economy, the government will be a regulator; and also an industry policy champion, a financier, and a key partner.” (Jeff Immelt, GE 2008 Annual Report, quoted here)

“What else can be said about how a destructive management philosophy–long warned against by classical liberals–drove a once iconic American company into the bog? Contra-capitalism destroys wealth, not only capitalism.” (below)

A May 27, 2020, piece at EnergyWire (E&E News) reported the latest of how errant leadership, political correctness, and cronyism diminished a once proud, iconic company.

“General Electric Co. cut one of the last remaining links to founder Thomas Edison, as the beleaguered manufacturer wrapped up a three-year process to sell its iconic lightbulb business,” reported Rick Clough. The buyer was the automated ‘smart home’ firm Savant Systems Inc.…

“[Lee Raymond] is a leader among leaders. He’s always encouraged and considered a range of views and opinions on a multitude of issues … including climate change.” – Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan.

Climate activists got beat in proxy voting at JPMorgan’s recent annual meeting, a good result for investors and employees, as well as consumers and the general economy. The climate will not notice either.

The activists failed to oust JPMorgan’s lead independent director Lee Raymond, longtime head of Exxon Mobil Corp., who never bought into renewables or climate alarmism. Maybe the activists want a different thinker with industry experience such as BP’s John Browne (father of that company’s environmental problems). Ken Lay was the antithesis to Raymond too.

Raymond was Right

Regarding renewables as mass substitutes to mineral energies, Raymond knew decades ago what Michael Moore, Jeff Gibbs, et al.…

Oil “worthless”? Under this standard, the commercial airline and cruise industries are worthless, as are the people who can’t effectively work from home.

Normalcy is not the future the anti-oil Houston Chronicle wants to see, an extreme editorial position that combines Green New Deal advocacy with Trump Derangement Syndrome in an election year.

On Sunday April 26, the Editorial Board of the Houston Chronicle published “Remember the People Behind Industry; Put Those Working in Oil and Gas First, Above Free Market Ideology.” The lead Sunday op-ed was meant to soften up the entrepreneurs, politicians, and citizens of the oil capital of the nation and world.

The op-ed was bad, even offensive, penned by a monolithic editorial board (no conservatives or libertarians allowed) that is beholden to climate alarmism and government-forced energy transformation.…