"The positive externalities far outweigh the negative ones. Society can't function without cheap energy."
I mean, nitpick I guess? but cheap energy isn't a positive externality of the energy industry, it's the product.
I mean, nitpick I guess? but cheap energy isn't a positive externality of the energy industry, it's the product.
IIRC Japan had a lot of business like that until 1973. All of the major industrial countries did, Japan perhaps the most. Except that although OPEC and the oil shock led to serious problems, the serious problems lasted only a year or so. "Can't function without cheap energy" was true? The dependency was solved so quickly that I find the word "can't" inappropriate.
If they kept it internal, nobody else would have access to it.