Putin or the market? – No, thank you

There is no doubt that Putin’s stifling of gas supplies and war have made Europe’s energy situation dangerous. Putin’s desire for social unrest in Europe should be a better reason for dealing with the market.

The leader of Dagbladet on August 23 He criticizes me for saying in the party leader’s debate on the NRK that the increasingly unrestricted European energy market and stock exchange electricity prices, to my ear, do not sound like the politics of social democracy. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store responded: “There is war in Europe. It is Putin who is wreaking havoc, not market forces. Now we must stand in solidarity with Europe.”

Although there is of course a clear relationship between war and the status of power in Europe, it was a deviation from Støre. Opponents of the neoliberal power system are also on the side of Europe in the fight against Putin’s aggression. Storr and I share the view and condemn Putin’s woes.

But she does not say Contrary to acknowledgment of the harms of a market-driven energy system that drives the price significantly. Because it is market forces that cause chaos when electricity prices in southern Norway continue to reach new highs.

The gas shortage in Germany would never have reached Norway in the form of increasingly extreme electricity prices had it not been for the market mechanisms jointly espoused by Stoer and Solberg. It is thus a direct result of Norway’s integration into the supranational European energy market. Pricing on the exchange means that this also occurs almost independently of the volume of Norway’s energy exports.

The government has switched to winter fur

By the way, I haven’t heard anyone say that they want to stop all energy exports. But I believe that we must politically control our power, including by regulating the export of energy abroad on the basis of considerations of supply and electricity prices in Norway. It’s not like stopping all exports or wanting to cut power cables, as Dagbladet in the leading position can make the impression.

I really can’t Understand how societal management of our resources can be portrayed as unfaithful to Europe.

On the contrary, it is essential that we be able to manage our valuable power for the benefit of the industry and the citizens. Power must be seen and defined as a basic infrastructure and a strategically important resource – not just a commercial good on the same level as potato chips.

We have great challenges ahead, and climate change makes a green transition absolutely essential. It must also be fair, because differences in society must be reduced. We must be able to properly prioritize in order to electrify transportation such as boats, cars and buses. We should be able to say no to individual data centers and bitcoin “factories,” and not use energy from shore to electrify the shelf.

Yes, that was unwise

Instead, we must Securing our energy-intensive industry that provides the much-needed products, among other things, for offshore wind and solar cells with environmental standards and working conditions that no other countries in the world can be proud of. We must be able to prioritize new energy-intensive industrial projects that increase value creation in Norway.

We must also be able to distinguish between the price of electricity for homes so that the essential consumption is low and the luxury/excessive consumption costs are more. Then we get socially fair prices without incentives to waste. We must be able to set prices that are predictable so that investments in energy efficiency ensure profitability.

We can achieve all of this through political management of our most important shared resource, rather than the exchange sending its power to where the price is the highest at any given time, with prices skyrocketing and highly volatile as a result.

Electricity prices in spare parts The country severely affects the financial resources of the people, so it is absolutely necessary to take political measures that will enable us to manage our way out of this situation. In addition, it is important that the government now plans to improve the private financial resources of individuals. As it becomes more expensive to live, it is important to stress those who have the most and to increase the leeway for most people. In short, more economic redistribution is needed.

Those who have the most and get the most should contribute the most. Therefore, taxes on higher incomes and large assets should go up. It will also have an anti-hypertrophic effect.

Ukraine is the loser

Extensive luxury services reduce the cost of living for large segments of the population. Measures such as free after-school care, an increase in housing allowance, cheaper day care centers and dental health reform have already begun and must be increased year by year. If benefits such as child benefit, disability benefit, social assistance, minimum pension and student support are boosted, more people will have more to deal with.

Not the least is needed An improved electricity subsidy scheme, so people get the help they need when window wraps start to feel like threatening messages. SV looks forward to negotiating with the government about such an arrangement.

We also want to take seriously Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Widom, who said at the party leadership debate on the NRK that we should have more political control of power. This is exactly what SV defends. Strength support is very necessary so that people do not go bankrupt, but it is primarily symptomatic relief because it does not treat the problem at its root. Political judgment will be able to do so.

lost the battle

None of this conflicts with recognition of the brutality or impact of the war or Putin’s desire for social upheaval in Europe. exactly the contrary. The destructive goal of social unrest must be met with policies for security.

The big political thing The distinction in the power debate is between those who point to the EU market as a solution and those of us who point to this neoliberalism as a problem that must be resolved in order to break the impasse. Of course we must be in solidarity.

But solidarity with a Europe torn by war and powerlessness must not take place in unfettered market places. What is the solidarity with us in Norway’s payment of the European market prices for electricity? When did the stock market and market liberalism become solidarity?