As Britain awaits a new prime minister, its cost-of-living crisis mounts

The G7, NATO and others have showered Ukraine with more money than it will ever be able to spend on military assets (which they are also being showered with). Ukraine needs experienced solders and expertise in the conflict zone. NATO, G7, etc. are unwilling to make that escalation so they'll keep on throwing more money and resources into a black hole to appear to be doing something when they're not willing to do the one thing that must be done if they want Ukraine to prevail. The only question is how long will the people of the nations supporting Ukraine continue to let this go on? Unless those supporting Ukraine do so with their own bodies, the end result of the conflict is guaranteed, all we're doing now is prolonging the pain.

Here is part of a WSJ editorial backing up my statement.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/net-zero-bankrupts-britain-hous... Net-Zero Emissions Policy Bankrupts Britain And it could do the same to the U.S., which is following a similar path. Updated Aug. 26, 2022 7:01 pm ET

Americans who fancy themselves net-zero climate advocates might want to take a look at Britain for a guide to the future. Household energy bills were expected to rise 40% this autumn, but on Friday the government regulator announced they’ll leap 80% in a single bound.

This boost follows a 54% rise in April and brings the average household’s annual bill to £3,549 ($4,208). The median household income is £31,400, which gives a sense of the growing proportion of each household’s budget that will go toward central heating, cooking and keeping the lights on. For the ruling Tories, this is a political calamity.

And that’s merely what households will spend directly on energy. Britain is also in the grip of an energy-price crisis for businesses, whose rates aren’t subject to a cap. Some small businesses report they can’t get any utility to supply them without paying a steep deposit up front, because energy companies are concerned that high prices will push more small firms into insolvency. Lower-income households in particular will bear the brunt of this as prices for goods and services skyrocket and companies lay off employees.

If you think this couldn’t happen in America, think again. The underlying cause of Britain’s energy misery is its fixation with climate goals, especially the ambition to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. To meet that goal Britain has grown hostile to domestic energy exploration, banning shale-gas fracking and slapping windfall-profits taxes on North Sea oil and gas producers that will deter investment. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hurt, but the U.K.’s policies made its citizens vulnerable to such a global shock.

The U.K. is belatedly building new nuclear plants, but those will take years to come online. Unreliable wind and solar raise the cost the electric grid must pay to balance supply and demand when the winds are still and the sun is behind clouds, and more than 80% of English households rely on gas rather than electricity to heat their homes. All of this drives up the cost of supplying power, and then the government adds about £153 in green levies and a 5% consumption tax directly on household bills.

> I am extremely comfortable with people having to suffer the obvious consequences of their choicse [sic]

Of course, because you probably don't have to live with any serious consequences of your choices, and you're most likely unaffected by these ones either.

Almost half if not more than half of the population in a democracy usually doesn't get to make a realistic choice, they voted for the losers without enough power to enact anything.

Most people don't get to live with the result of their choices but the result of others'. This means the pain is lessened for those responsible, and heightened for others. Are they allowed to moan without triggering your sensibilities? How would you know which is which?

Then realistically you probably didn't get to "suffer" the real consequences from most of your democratic process related choices. If you voted for leadership that went on to wage an illegal war you don't get to bear any of that responsibility. People love to bang their own drum about democracy, and freedoms, and their power, and the contribution they made. Until you bring up what the leaders they chose did. And then it's no longer their responsibility, then it's just a stamp on a paper, not a share of the responsibility. What are the consequences you suffer for something like that?

Honestly, this article understates the situation. Everyone is bricking it. I go to the barbers, the barber wants to talk about it. I go to get a burger, the server wants to talk about it. A really large chunk of the country is doing calculations and really not liking the results.

Small businesses and charities are already receiving their new contract quotes and deciding to shut down.

And our next Prime Minister shows exactly no sign of caring about or even understanding the seriousness of the situation.

This article basically says that £153 out of £3539 is green levies, and the cause of the price increase was Russia's invasion of Ukraine.