in reference to the thought provoking Tasnim article below, I would like to add the following.

https://theduran.locals.com/post/8128044/uk-students-face-ticking-timebomb-of-debt-higher-taxes-august-10-2026-15-36

This applies equally here in Australia and I suspect across most Western countries.

We have doomed an entire generation to a hopeless debt-trap.

Amidst a backdrop of global economic depression, whole job sectors wiped out by automation, outsourcing, collapsed wages and unaffordable housing. These people are loading themselves with debt to train for careers that are rapidly dwindling on the vine.

This has been the trend for years already, but the energy war is going to intensify it beyond recognition.

The Rubicon has already been crossed. There is no end in sight to the geopolitical fist-fight for energy between the Empire and the South, across the whole globe. Where it is not kinetic today, it is economic.

I have a feeling it will continue for years now. But even if it ended today, the damage already done to all those facilities will take a long time to rectify, the refinement capacity losses are disastrous. It is not easy to replace vast refinement complexes even if you have the money to throw at the problem, it requires a great number of highly skilled workers and time.

That's the overall perspective, but zoom in to the individual level and think about what those energy costs mean to ourselves. The cost of logistics is going to strangle many industries to death, most others may just about hang-on with life-support. That life-support will require money or huge savings from somewhere and you can bet that means us.

This isn't a bump in the road, it is a long rolling tumble down a mountainside.